Spanish Davis Cup Captain Gets Flak For Losing

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 20th November 2012

Spanish Davis Cup Captain Gets Flak For Losing

epa03476699 Nicolas Almagro of Spain in action against Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic during their match of the Davis Cup final between the Czech Republic and Spain in Prague, Czech Republic, 18 November 2012. EPA/FILIP SINGER |

Invariably there is fall out from the team that loses the Davis Cup final and Spain , champions five times this century but beaten by the Czech Re public in Prague last weekend, are no different.

The majority of the criticism is falling upon captain Alex Corretja and his decision to play Nicolas Almagro on a fast indoor hard court when perhaps Feliciano Lopez would have been more suited to the conditions.

Alamgro, predominantly a clay courter, lost the decisive fifth rubber to Radek Stepanek, and Corretja, who succeeded Albert Costa as captain at the beginning of the year, has faced widespread criticism for his decision.

Corretja responded, saying: “I don’t think I made a mistake and I don’t think we lost the tie because Nico Almagro played. Having seen the way Nico played on Friday, I still believe that he was the right person to play the final rubber. Who knows if a different player would have been any better? Nobody.”

Lopez attended the final and tweeted he was available and surprised not to be picked for the team. Corretja answered: “I am a fan of Feliciano Lopez in the sense that he has given a huge amount to the Davis Cup team.

“He’s an excellent teammate and an excellent friend and an excellent Davis Cup player and an excellent player on those courts, but I have a huge number of reasons why I think Almagro had to play…If we played Czech Re public again tomorrow I would choose the same four players.”

Lopez showed a mood of contrition after the defeat and again resorted to Twitter to show his feelings. “My words will never hurt the team because we are all friends,” Lopez tweeted.

“You have to know how to lose, we’re a team. We lost because the Czechs were better and we fought until the last point. We’ve been a team in defeat as well.”