Alex Corretja Has Not Accepted Spain’s Davis Cup Captain Job Offer

Written by: Staff on 22nd December 2011

Alex Corretja Has Not Accepted Spain’s Davis Cup Captain Job Offer

epa000297929 Spaniard tennis player Alex Corretja returns the ball to Thai Paradorn Srichapan during their ATP Masters Series tennis match at Rockodromo Arena in Madrid, Spain, on Wednesday 20 October 2004. Srichapan won the match 7-6 (5) and 6-3. EPA/Angel Díaz |

Alex Corretja and the Real Federacion Española de Tenis have hit an impasse over the former world no.2 taking over as the new Davis Cup captain. He wants a guarantee of a two year contract but only a one year deal is currently on the table.

Corretja appears to be the sole candidate to succeed Albert Costa after Carlos Moya ruled himself out of taking charge after Spain won the Davis Cup for the fifth time this century earlier this month against Argentina in Seville.

Spanish Federation president Jose Luis Escanuela hosted Corretja to dinner in Barcelona this week in a bid to overcome the issue and made the point that both Costa, who opted to stand down after leading cup winning teams in two of the last three years, and his predecessor Emilio Sanchez both worked on one year contracts that were renewed.

Corretja seems to be concerned that the decisions of Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez not to make themselves available for selection in 2012 would obviously have a detrimental effect on the strength of the team and that would impact upon the 37 year-old Catalan’s chances of staying in the job.

Costa, who has been given a wider ranging role with a mandate to co-co-ordinate and work with the strategies of both Spain’s men’s and women’s national teams in Davis Cup, Fed Cup and the Olympic Games, as well as acting as an assessor in other areas of Spanish professional tennis, is a firm supporter of the job being given to Corretja.

If Corretja is finally persuaded to take the job on the terms on offer, he will have to base his team selection for February’s first round World Group tie against Kazakhstan in Oviedo on players like world no.10 Nicolas Almagro who has only previously played two live rubbers, and world no.27 Marcel Granollers who has only appeared in doubles.

Meantime, as widely predicted, Martin Jaite has been officially announced by the Asociación Argentina de Tenis (AAT) as the new Argentina captain on a two year contract in succession to Tito Vasquez.

“I’m very happy,” said Jaite, whose first match in charge will be February’s trip to Germany. “It’s a dream that I had since I retired as a player. I feel very honored by this appointment.” Jaite will have Mariano Zabaleta as his assistant.

Topics: Alex Corretja