11 Apr 2004 - Plaza de Toros - Jayne Field
Spain Looking Forward to France
Carlos Moya’s 63 64 defeat of Sjeng Schalken in the fifth rubber was the
icing on the cake for the host nation, cementing a 4-1 defeat over the
Netherlands. Earlier today Juan Carlos Ferrero secured Spain’s place in
September’s Davis Cup by BNP Paribas semifinal with a win over
Martin Verkerk in the fourth live rubber.
The fifth rubber was the first opportunity for Schalken to take to the
court despite having the highest ranking in the Dutch team. It was a tactical
decision that Dutch captain Tjerk Bogstra made on Thursday after he decided
that Schalken was not ready to play at his best level on Friday.
Schalken admitted that it was difficult to sit on the sidelines and watch
his compatriots take defeat, “It was very hard to watch the match out there
today, I was really into it and it was disappointing because Martin played
so well. But it was good Davis Cup tennis and a great match. It was very hard
for me to go out and play after we were 3-1 down.”
Carlos Moya was the first to put a point on the board for Spain with a
confident 62 75 64 victory over Martin Verkerk in the opening singles rubber.
World No.3 Juan Carlos Ferrero followed in similar fashion giving Spain a
2-0 lead when he raced to a 62 62 64 win over Raemon Sluiter. When Spain led
the doubles two games to one on Saturday, an easy victory by the Spanish
looked very likely. But as if answering a call from the Dutch camp, the
heavens opened and rain forced play to be delayed until Sunday.
The Netherlands used the break to re-group and came to the Bull Ring on
Sunday as a transformed team. Their pumped up doubles duo of Martin Verkerk
and John Van Lottum wrapped up the doubles rubber in five sets 36 26 63 62 62
to keep Dutch hopes alive.
Much to the delight of the travelling Dutch supporters Verkerk took the
world No. 3 to an epic five sets, but he was unable dominate the clay court
specialist and Ferrero delivered the decisive point with a 64 67(5) 46 75 61
victory.
Ferrero was impressed by Verkerk’s fighting spirit, “When I watched him
come out and play the doubles today, I knew he was playing better. But really
I don’t think that he played so bad in his first singles on Friday, it was
just the Carlos played so well against him and really controlled the match
not letting him play his game.”
Having disposed of the Netherlands, Ferrero is already looking ahead to his
country’s semifinal clash with France at home to be held September 24-26,
“It will be tough to beat France, but we have shown this weekend that we
have a great team and that we are also tough to beat, so we are looking
forward to playing them.”
One of the three Spanish captains Jordi Arrese was also pleased to be
meeting France in the semifinals, “We are very happy to be playing France
because it is important for us to have a home tie. Even though Switzerland
has the No. 1 player and are perhaps a better team than France we did not
want to play away. We are expecting it to be a very tough.”
If Spain should need a secret weapon in their semifinal clash with France
then there is every chance that 17-year-old Majorcan Rafael Nadal will be it.
While he didn’t play a huge role in Spain’s defeat of the Netherlands,
Arrese admitted that he is not a natural doubles player. “I asked him to
play doubles here this weekend, but really he is a singles player. He didn’t
get to play singles here but he is a great asset to have on the team and as
each month goes by he will get better and better.”
If Nadal’s recent progression on the circuit is anything to go by, then
maybe we will see Nadal play a Davis Cup singles role. Before arriving in
Palma to join his team, Nadal had pulled off the biggest victory of his young
life, after he disposed of the top-ranked Roger Federer in the third round of
the Nasdaq-100 Open. While his partnership with Robredo in the doubles was
not successful in clinching the tie for Spain, Nadal’s eager display of
confidence underlined the depth of the Spanish Davis Cup side.
Nadal says that his powerful backhand comes from his ability to play tennis
with either his right or left hand. He grew up playing with both hands and
when forced to make a decision, chose to be a left-handed player as he felt
they were the most difficult to beat. However, his right arm is still his
strongest, enabling him to power down his double backhand.
Spain have beaten France in four of its five Davis Cup meetings, but with
the likely return of Sebastian Grosjean, the 2001 Davis Cup champions will be
tough to beat.
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這個組合...滿期待的！
希望衛視九月記得播Davis cup～（嗚我也想看一下西班牙啊啊）
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