The 100th Davis Cup final looks promising, don’t you think? A day before a ball has been struck, it already has three of the key ingredients that make for an entertaining sports weekend.
First and foremost, we have what looks to be a competitive tie, between defending champion Spain and the plucky Czech Republic on a fast hard court in Prague, in an arena that took less than a day to sell out.
Second, we have internal strife on the Spanish side. Big-serving Feliciano Lopez has questioned why he, rather than clay-loving teammate Nicolas Almagro, wasn’t called on to play Tomas Berdych in the opening singles rubber.
Last but not least, we have some old-fashioned trash-talking by Berdych, who seems to agree with Lopez. Yesterday Berdych had this to say about Almagro, the man whose hand he wouldn’t shake at the Australian Open in January: “If he’s nominated, he will be the weak point on which we can build our victory. He’s missing that little something that distinguishes great players from the rest.”
Try to put aside, for a second, the three words that immediately popped into your head when you read that quote—i.e., “pot kettle black.” Instead, just savor the moment. We don’t get a lot of bulletin-board material from tennis players in this most gentlemanly of eras. Think how much better Berdych just made the second singles match on Friday, when he’ll get his wish and face Almagro.
Insults aside, this tie should be good. Both teams are strong–Spain’s singles players, David Ferrer and Almagro, are ranked No. 5 and 11, respectively, while the Czechs will send out the No. 6 player in the world, Berdych, and Radek Stepanek, who has been ranked as high as No. 8. Even the doubles offers an intriguing matchup. Spain's Marc Lopez and Marcel Granollers just won the ATP World Tour Finals in London. At the moment, Czech captain Jaroslav Navratil has pencilled in Lukas Rosol and Ivo Minar to face them, but that’s obviously subject to change. In the last two ties, it was Berdych and Stepanek who teamed up to give the Czechs a crucial point. While they don’t play together all year, the Bird and the Worm make a formidable duo—they’re 11-1 together in Davis Cup.
Most important, perhaps, is the surface. The Spaniards will be off of their beloved clay for the first time this year. They beat the Czechs on red dirt the last time they played, in the 2009 final in Barcelona. That means the tables will be turned, in a big way, with the surface in Prague. Ferrer says it's as fast anything the Spanish team has played on. A neutral observer said today that it has a low bounce and is quicker than the average hard court. Berdych, for his part, says it's "perfect." No word on whether he then rubbed his hands together and laughed diabolically.
The draw was made this morning. Here’s a look at the matchups.