Argentina hunts for revenge against Spain in the Davis Cup Finals – Tennis News
Team Argentina is very keen to avenge its agonising defeat it suffered at the hands of the Spaniards in 2008 edition of Davis Cup Finals and will come out all guns blazing in the rematch this weekend. The final of this year’s Davis
Cup will held between the two hostile sides on the clay courts of Seville, Spain, from 2nd to 4th of December.
The Argentines were outclassed three seasons ago on their home ground, with Spain nailing a 3-1 victory over the strong host team to claim the prestigious ITF (International Tennis Federation) title. Team Spain was missing the
expertise of their top gun, Rafael Nadal, in the competition but Fernando Verdasco escorted his side to an emphatic victory in the final of Davis Cup.
Team Argentina went into the competition as the hot favourites but was taken by surprise by an overall brilliant performance from the visitors on the hard courts of Mar del Plata. David Nalbandian took off the proceedings from
Argentine side in an aggressive fashion and defeated Spain’s David Ferrer in the opening rubber to give his side a 1-0 lead early in the tie. However, a dramatic downfall of Team Argentina was seen in the competition to follow, with the host nation sinking
to 1-3, letting Spain flay away with the Davis Cup title in style.
Despite of four appearances in the final of the event, Argentina is yet to bag the Davis Cup title. Former US Open champion and current world number 11, Juan Martin Del Potro, will be leading the well-prepared Argentine squad in
the final showdown of the year this time round. He will be accompanied by the Nalbandian, Juan Monaco and Juan Ignacio Chela in the competition against a star-studded Spanish squad led by the ‘King of Clay’, Rafael Nadal. David Ferrer, 20th ranked
Feliciano Lopez and 24th ranked Fernando Verdasco are the other Spaniards to accompany the world number two in the Davis Cup Finals on Friday.
Del Potro is very hopeful that his crafty side will take down the tired Spanish squad this weekend to bring glory to their nation. “The final will be different from Mar del Plata,” he said, “If we are very, very focussed for the
first matches on Friday, maybe we will have the chance to win. The 2008 final is in the past, three years ago. We are different players.”
“I wasn't there (in 2008) but I know we were very disappointed, very sad, as that was our chance,” said team captain, Modesto Vazquez.
Although Team Spain is the hot favourite for winning the Davis Cup Finals, the home side will also be under tremendous pressure from the local crowd and this can produce some sort of openings for the Argentines in the competition.
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