Spain will host Argentina in the final of the Davis Cup this weekend as the 2011 tennis season comes to a close. Argentina will be looking to win the Davis cup for the first time in their history whilst the Spaniards will be looking to life the trophy for the fifth time since 2000.
It is fair to say that Spain's route to the final has been a lot tougher than the Argentineans. In order to reach this stage they have had to see off Belgium, the United States (on the U.S hard courts) and France. The Argentinians meanwhile cruised past the likes of Romania and Kazakhstan before earning a well fought win over Serbia in the semi finals. Spain's win over the U.S was massive. The home side set everything up to suit themselves (as you would expect). A fast hard court in front of the partisan crowd might have been enough to beat most clay court specialist nations before they even stepped on court but this Spanish team is exceptional.
The teams
Spain
The Spanish team, captained by Albert Costa, will consist of team leader Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco. All four of these men reside inside the worlds top 25 and are all experts on clay. Lopez and Verdasco's doubles partnership has been called in to question a few times but they are more than capable of putting in a performance when it matters. There is, of course, no question over Nadal and Ferrer's predigree, on any surface, but particularly on clay. Nadal is hailed by many as the greatest clay court player of all time whilst Ferrer is capable of betaing anybody in the world on the red stuff.
Argentina
The Argentinian team will consist of team leader Juan Martin Del Potro, David Nalbandian, Juan Monaco and Juan Ignacio Chela. David Nalbandian currently sits at no. 64 in the world but we all know that he is far better than his ranking suggests. Chela and Monaco sit at 29 and 26 respectively whilst Del Potro currently resides just outside the worlds top 10. Chela and Monaco are clay court specialists and so the courts should suit them. Interestingly, word is that Monaco will be sent out to play in the singles rubbers instead of Nalbandian who will be kept as a substitute. Monaco has been in good form on the hard courts lately and, despite specialising on the clay, we can't see him remotely challenging Ferrer or Nadal.
The Stadium
As hosts of the final, the Spaniards got to choose where they play the final. They contested the semi final in the famous bull ring in Madrid on the red clay courts. The final deserves an even grander stage however, and that it exactly what it has got. The impressive Olympic stadium in Seville played host to Spain's Davis cup win against the U.S in 2004 and the host nation will be looking for a similar outcome this weekend. The specially constructed tennis arena takes up around half of the Olympic stadium and will seat around 27,000 fans which makes it, unofficially, the biggest venue in world tennis.
History
The Spanish have a 3-0 head to head record over Argentina. Their most recent meeting came in the 2008 final in Argentina on the hard courts. Spain also won meetings on the clay in 2003 and in 1926.
Who's going to win?
Everybody wants a competitive final but we don't think that this is going to be. Both Nadal and Ferrer are miles better than Del Potro and Nalbandian on the clay. If the tie was taking place on hard courts then things might be different, especially given Nadal's current form, but the Argentinean's are going to struggle. The doubles match could go either way and is Argentina's best hope of getting a point. But this will be a fifth Spanish Davis Cup win.
Our Verdict: Spain 4-1
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