Nadal Seals Spain's Place in Final
26 Sep 2004 -
Plaza de Toros de Alicante, ALicante, ESP - Chris Bowers - ESP v FRA
Nadal Seals Spain's Place in Final
A brilliant display by Rafael Nadal has seen Spain into its third
Davis Cup by BNP Paribas final in five years.
The 18-year-old came in to replace his fellow Mallorcan Carlos
Moya, who was struggling with shoulder and knee problems, and
produced one of the best performances of his career to beat
Arnaud Clement 64 61 62.
"I think I never felt as great as this," said Nadal after being showered
with champagne following his impressive win. "With all the crowd
and all the players in the team, I'm very happy."
He wasn't the only one! Ten thousand fans in the Alicante bull ring
cheered Nadal to what the player admitted was probably the best
match he had played. He started slowly dropping his opening service
game to 15, and for the first five games Clement was playing with
his head and giving every indication that he might take the semifinal
to a live fifth rubber.
Clement's level then dropped off a little, allowing Nadal to break
back for 3-3. And after that the lefthander (who does everything
else with his right hand) hardly made another mistake. A low-flying
aircraft swooped over the bull ring at 3-3 deuce, and had Clement
known what was to follow, he would probably have asked to be
swept away to safety.
Nadal was brilliant, and a point in the first game of the third set
must have demoralised the Frenchman. Clement did everything
right, and seemed to have won the point with a drop volley. But
Nadal raced to it, and ended up winning the ensuing volley rally
with a brilliant reflex lob.
After a run of 10 straight games, Nadal had match point at 5-0
in the third set. He finally made a mistake, netting a forehand, and
then saw Clement win two games. But it was only to make the
score respectable, and a backhand crosscourt winner saw Nadal
and Spain to victory in two hours 14 minutes.
The win provided adequate cover for a morning of mild chaos in
the Spanish team. Nadal admitted after his win that he had been
told yesterday he was likely to play the first reverse singles, but
then when practising with Juan Carlos Ferrero on Sunday morning,
Ferrero felt a blister on his right hand would prevent him from
playing, so Tommy Robredo would have to jump in.
Spain's captain Jordi Arrese then tried to change Nadal's
nomination by asking for Robredo to face Clement and Nadal to
play Paul-Henri Mathieu in the fifth rubber, but they were a few
minutes too late.
As it happened, it didn't matter, and the way Nadal played suggests
he would have been the best choice for the fourth rubber anyway.
It also leaves the question of whether he might play singles in the
final, though he feels not. "If necessary I can play singles and
doubles," he said, "but I think Ferrero and Moya are still favourites
to play the singles if they're playing well."
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無媚有清苦。
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