 Photographer: Sergio Carmona
Date: 06 Mar 2010 |  Photographer: Sergio Carmona
Date: 05 Mar 2010 |  Photographer: Sergio Carmona
Date: 07 Mar 2010 |  Photographer: Sergio Carmona
Date: 05 Mar 2010 |  Photographer: Sergio Carmona
Date: 06 Mar 2010 |  Photographer: Sergio Carmona
Date: 05 Mar 2010 |
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| 08 Mar 2010 - Logrono, Spain - ESP v SUI - Clive White | |
| Unstoppable Spain faces quarterfinal obstacle |
When France receives Spain in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas in July they will be able to do something that Switzerland was physically unable to do against the defending champions in Logrono – share the work load around.
Guy Forget, the French captain, will be able to utilise the services of four players not three. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils, presumably, will concentrate their efforts on the singles while Julien Benneteau and Michael Llodra would be able to focus on the doubles.
Switzerland, on the other hand, in the absence of the injured world No. 1 Roger Federer was over-dependent on one player: Stanislas Wawrinka. It would not have been quite so bad if he had been match fit and at the top of his game but Wawrinka arrived in the Rioja region without having played a competitive match in six weeks, having taken time off from the game to be present for the birth of his first child.
When he eventually - and inevitably - hit the wall in the fourth rubber against the considerably fresher David Ferrer, losing the last 11 games of the match and with it the tie, Severin Luthi, the Swiss captain, was accused of asking too much of his player by selecting him for three matches in three days. But Luthi had no other option.
If Switzerland was to make the most of its opportunity – and remember it was up against a second string Spanish team, albeit a very good one – it had to win the tie over the first four rubbers, because the Swiss No. 3, Marco Chiudinelli, as game as he is, could not be expected to beat the likes of Nicolas Almagro or Tommy Robredo on clay in a decisive rubber.
The irony is that had Federer been available, Luthi might have been tempted to use just two players, never mind three, given that Federer and Wawrinka apart from being obvious choices for the singles berths also happen to be the Olympic doubles champions.
Nevertheless, ideally, a country needs a specialist doubles team or at least a pair who can put all their efforts into that one match on day two. One of the reasons why Spain was able to comprehensively defeat a very good Czech Republic team in the Final of last year’s Davis Cup was because they had four players working for the cause, whereas the Czechs essentially had just two: Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych.
Another factor in the Spaniards’ favour is that they don’t appear to have any prima donnas rocking their boat; they are very much a team and a spirited one at that, as Ferrer, who won both his singles rubbers against the Swiss, emphasised afterwards: “There is no leader – it’s a team,” he said. “Each point is important. It doesn’t matter if you are number one or number two.”
Or, in his case, No. 4 in the ATP rankings. Given that the French are bound to choose hard court as their preferred surface for battle it’s possible that, as a clay-court specialist, he may not be chosen for the quarterfinal, but you can be rest assured there won’t be any complaints from him if he isn’t.
This time Costa was without Rafael Nadal, Fernando Verdasco, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Feliciano Lopez, all of whom, providing they are fit, will be desperate to play next time. As Costa said, “It’s not easy telling huge players their services are not required.”
But it’s a selection headache that Luthi and many other Davis Cup captains would happily have.
Related links
> Tie information
> Audio interviews
> Scorecards & stats
> Spain begins title defence with victory
> Spain edges ahead against Switzerland
> Ferrer brings Spain level
> Almagro begins Spanish defence
Related websites
> Información en español - RFET
> Infos from Swiss Tennis
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