Nadal, Verdasco struggle ahead of Davis Cup final
Tennis newsWith a week to go before Spain attempts to defend its Davis Cup title against the Czech Republic, its top two players, Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco, are struggling to find a way to win.
Nadal lost his third straight match at the ATP World Tour Finals on Friday, a day after Verdasco lost the last of his three round-robin matches in the season-ending tournament.
We are very focused and we know how tough (its) going to be (to retain the Davis Cup), said Nadal, who lost to Novak Djokovic 7-6 (5), 6-3 in his final Group B match at the O2 Arena. We know the Czech Republic wants to win the Davis Cup, too.
Luckily for Nadal, Verdasco, David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez, the best-of-five final will be played on outdoor clay in Barcelona.
The change on clay, (its) going to be a big change, said Nadal, who also lost to Djokovic in the semifinals of the Paris Masters before coming to London. But thats a big motivation for me, finish the year winning. And I have the opportunity there to play well, to play good tennis on clay, and to win, to win something important for my country.
The second-ranked Nadal entered this weeks tournament with a chance to take over the year-end No. 1 spot from Roger Federer. But he lost his opening match to Robin Soderling, the same man who knocked Nadal out of this years French Open in the fourth round. He then dropped matches against Nikolay Davydenko and Djokovic.
Nadal, though, was realistic about his chances in London before the tournament started.
Its disappointing if you arrive here with the feeling that you have a big chance to win. But I didnt arrive here with that feeling, Nadal said. I knew before the tournament thats going to be really tough, difficult. But I tried. Every day I tried my best.
While Nadal lost all three matches in straight sets, the seventh-ranked Verdasco went to three sets in his losses to Federer, Juan Martin del Potro and Andy Murray in Group A.
And on the bright side for Verdasco, the early elimination gives him more time to prepare for next Fridays opening singles matches against a Czech team that includes Radek Stepanek, Tomas Berdych, Jan Hajek and Lukas Dlouhy.
They were practicing already one week on clay, and Rafa and myself, we didnt start yet because we were playing here, Verdasco said. But we will try to get used to it as soon as possible.
Djokovic beat Nadal in two of his four straight losses – the Spaniards longest losing streak since dropping four straight in late 2003-early 2004 – but still thinks Spain will be favored.
Obviously, Spanish players love playing in front of their crowd on clay courts, Djokovic said. I wouldnt rate the Czechs as favorites because they have to go to Spain, but you never know whats going to happen.
Nadal missed last years final, when Spain traveled to Argentina and won 3-1, because of injury. He was injured for much of the 2009 season as well and played for his country only in the first round win over Serbia.
But, despite his showing in London, the Australian Open champion is optimistic.
We (are) going to have one week to play together there and to practice together, to work like a team, Nadal said. Win together, thats what were going to try. I know (its) going to be difficult, but we are confident.
Saturday, November 28th, 2009 at 9:15 pm and is filed under Tennis news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
