[DC]Argentina Prepares for Trip to Minsk
08 Feb 2004 - Salle Inbiaat, Agadir, MAR - Chris Bowers - MAR v ARG
Argentina Prepares for Trip to Minsk
Argentina's delegation to Agadir spent more nervous energy on the final
afternoon keeping up to date with the state of play in Minsk between
Belarus and Russia than on the two reverse singles.
Having secured their place in the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas quarterfinals
by winning the doubles, the main issue was to which of the two east European
nations the Argentines would have to travel to over the Easter weekend.
In these circumstances, the Davis Cup website's live scoring system proved
a massive hit! The 17-strong Argentine delegation of players, practice
partners, national association staff and media kept in constant touch with
the courtside Getronics live scorer and the internet connection in the ITF
office, following every turn of Belarus's remarkable comeback on the final
afternoon.
Though Argentina knew it would have to travel to either nation, the general
feeling in the camp is that Belarus is a slightly easier prospect. Though
Russia is not the force it was before Yevgeny Kafelnikov retired, the general
feeling among the Argentines was that the gravitas Russia still has from
winning the Davis Cup 14 months ago " and their home victory over Argentina
in the 2002 semifinals " would make for a harder assignment.
Yet Argentina's level-headed captain Gustavo Luza wasn't buying into that.
"Russia is very tough," he said, "but if they lost to Belarus then they must
be tough too. Mirnyi is a very good player on indoor courts and an excellent
doubles player, so the surface is going to be fast, it'll be tough, a country
far away from us, a different culture, everything counts.
"But having won away, we feel very confident in ourselves, and if we win the
next match we're going to play at home, and that's very motivating for us."
After the dead rubbers, Morocco's captain Karim Alami revealed he had held a
crisis meeting on Saturday night, to tackle what he felt was "our worst-
prepared tie for a long time". While refusing to blame any individuals, he
said the attitude in the whole Moroccan Davis Cup set-up wasn't what it
should have been, and he hoped the experience would help the team learn for
the future.
And indeed the final two singles did see Morocco salvage some pride in what
was its first World Group tie on home soil. Though the final score reads 5-0
for Argentina, there was only 14 minutes less playing time in the Sunday
matches as there was in Friday's two best-of-five-sets singles.
Mehdi Tahiri, ranked 611, played an impressive match against the world No 4
Guillermo Coria, going down 62 76 (4). It was an entertaining contest,
highlighted by a remarkable through-the-legs lob from Coria in the second
set which landed just inside Tahiri's baseline and won him the point. And
the fact that both captains spent two minutes arguing a call at 5-5 testifies
to plenty of passion, despite the rubber having no bearing on the overall
outcome.
In the final rubber, Mounir el Aarej won a set against Agustin Calleri,
indeed he might have won two having squandered a 5-2 lead in the first set.
His performance was an ample reward for the several hundred Moroccan fans
who had stayed to support him, despite the distraction of the African Cup
of Nations soccer quarterfinal between Morocco and Algeria being broadcast
on national television at the same time. In fact when word of Morocco's
last-minute equaliser reached the crowd, the cheer caused a minor delay
mid-way through the second set.
Calleri eventually won the match 76 (1) 36 61, and as he won on an el Aarej
double-fault, the biggest cheer of the day rang around the stadium "at that
exact same moment Morocco had scored a goal in the soccer to make it 3-1!
A symbolic reminder perhaps that this weekend in Moroccan sport belonged
to the footballers, while the tennis players must face another qualifying
round tie in September.
--
(安靜︰一位天使穿過這漫長的瞬間，它漫長得像一百個太陽的生命)
--
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