Spain wins the Davis Cup Finals

pics taken from dailymail.uk and DavisCup.com


Despite having their best player side-lined with an injury, Spain, was able to pull off an upset over Argentina and claim the Davis Cup title. This was the third time in the history of the Davis Cup that Argentina, has made the finals but they haven't been able to win the silver trophy yet. It looked like they had a pretty good chance this year. David Nalbandian, and Juan Martin Del Potro, were both playing well going into the finals and the Argentine's had home-court advantage and were playing on hard-courts, which is usually a weaker surface for Spain.

Nalbandian, got things started on the right track by completely out-performing David Ferrer, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 to win the first match of the final, surprisingly it was Del Potro, who fell down against Spain's Feliciano Lopez, which gave Spain, the hope that they needed to get back into the finals. The doubles match which pitted David Nalbandian and Agustin Calleri against Feliciano Lopez and Fernado Verdasco, was an awesome match. There's no other way to describe it. Spain split the first two sets with Argentina, with both of the teams winning the sets 7-5. Nalbandian and Calleri, had to come back from 1-5 in the third set and were able to push Spain to a tie-break but it still wasn't enough to claim the set, the 3rd set went to Spain 7-6.
Spain, again had a two break lead in the fourth set but this time they were able to hang on to it and they won 6-3 in the fourth to put Spain ahead of Argentina 2-1. What turned out to be the final match was between Fernando Verdasco and Jose Acasuso, the match was originally scheduled for Del Potro and Ferrer but Del Potro, was forced to pull out because of an injury. Emilio Sanchez, chose to replace David Ferrer with Fernado Verdasco to play for the title. This turned out to be a great decision, Ferrer, hadn't played well against Nalbandian and he has the tendency to defeat himself in crucial points during a match. Acasuso's career record is pretty modest but he gave it everything he had and almost upset Verdasco. Verdasco, won the first set pretty easily but Acasuso, tripped him up during the second and third sets and gave Argentina, a good look at a fifth match to determine the final. It never happen though, after the third set Acasuso, was burned out and was pretty much destroyed in the last set. Verdasco, won the match 6-3, 6-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, and won Spain their third Davis Cup title in the last eight years.

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There are a few other tennis games on Mini Clip but this is probably the best one.

Gilles Simon beats Federer in the openining match of the Masters Cup.

I think Roger Federer, may have just blown his chance to win the Masters Cup this year. Fed, definitely needed to win his match against Simon and starting with an 0-1 record in the red group makes his chances of winning the tournament grim. The two Andy's now stand in his way. I could see Federer beating Roddick but Murray, has been giving him trouble in the past month and I wouldn't be at all suprised to see Roger fall to Murray this time. Simon, on the other hand is playing well and probably will be able to make it out of the red group, if he's able to beat Roddick.

I'm going to go with Murray and Simon as the two to progress out of the Red group. Wow, it would be really strange if Federer doesn't atleast make the finals, Federer has been to at least the finals for the past 5 years.

The gold group is harder to predict. Djokovic and Davydenko have made it to the Master Cup before but this is a first time for Del Potro and Tsonga. Tsonga, has just come off of his Paris win and should be a favorite to make it out of the gold group based on how well he's playing. Djokovic, is always dangerous but he's lost the last two times he's played Tsonga. It's hard to tell with Davydenko but I don't think he'll be able to beat two of the three younger players.

I'll pick Djokovic and Tsonga to make it out of the gold group and challenge Murray and Simon in the semi-finals.

Will tendinitis end Nadal's reign as #1?

Although I try not to interject favoritism into my blog I will admit that Rafael Nadal, is my favorite tennis player, with Roger Federer, Gilles Monfils, and Gilles Simon following closely behind. Nadal, has been my favorite player for the past two years, I've always been impressed with the way that he fights to win every point and rarely looks beaten even if he's losing a match. In fact Nadal, is probably the mentally toughest player that I've ever seen. This year at the US Open Nadal, had to play two tough matches against Sam Querrey and Mardy Fish. In both matches he was in deep trouble and could have lost had it not been for his mental fortitude, to pull him through. Being mentally strong is a gift that some players just don't have, look at Marat Safin or Paul-Henri Mathieu, even Federer has been struggling mentally this year but Nadal is now facing an opponent that's much tougher than Murray, Djokovic or even Federer. Nadal, is in a battle to preserve his knees for as long as he can. The tendinitis that has been plaguing Nadal's knees seems to be getting worse. Rafa, mentioned on his blog that he's using his time off to rest his knees and will be having some tests done in Barcelona, soon. Hopefully the tests will go well but until he's given a green light to resume his practice schedule, Nadal will be forced to remain physically inactive and this could have a serious affect on his game next year. Nadal, went to the finals in Chennai and made the semi-finals at the Australian Open as well as Indian Wells, so he will have some important points to defend at the start of next year. I don't know how Nadal's knees will hold up from this point forward but I'm guessing that being sidelined from tournaments is just the start of things to come.

Tsonga wins Paris title

There's a new person in the top 10 and more importantly the top 8. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, has qualified for the Tennis Masters Cup after winning the ATP Masters Series Paris. Tsonga, has made it known that he belongs in the top tier of players, after he overcame an extremely tough draw to win the championship, he had to face Stepanek, Djokovic, Roddick, Blake, and then Nalbandian in the finals. Wait, did I just say Nalbandian in the finals? It may seem surprising that he made it that far but Nalbandian played very well in Paris. Although, Nalbandian was the defending champion, he hasn't exactly been setting the pro circuit on fire. Juan Martin Del-Potro replaced him as the #1 player for Argentina and Nalbandian wasn't able to make it past the quarter-finals of any Masters series tournaments this year, leading up to Paris. Nalbandian, kind of reminds me of Marat Safin. If he's playing well he's an incredibly dangerous player but if he's off he can get upset by anyone. Luckily for him his game solid and he was able to beat Del Potro in the round of 16, Andy Murray in the quarter-finals, and Davydenko in the semi-finals.

I was also surprised that Federer and Nadal both pulled out of the tournament with injuries. How often does that happen?!. Unfortunately, Nadal's tendinitous has been getting worse and it's forced him to skip the Masters Cup. At this point the most he can hope for is a strong start at the beginning of the season next year.

Federer, had to retire because of a back injury but it must not be too serious because he's chosen to play the Masters Cup and has been moved up to the #1 seed thanks to Rafa retiring.