Nadal to Lead Spain in Davis Cup Defense

Second-ranked Rafael Nadal is slated to lead the Spanish team in their defense of the Davis Cup against the Czech Republic next month headed by captain Albert Acosta, right after missing losing to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals in the Paris Masters on Saturday. Nadal missed a shot at playing at the September semifinals when Spain beat Israel.

Nadal is joined by David Ferrer as the other singles player, while Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez are expected to pair up for doubles. Ferrer has also been out from previous matches due to a hamstring injury. His latest match was in the previous month’s Valencia Open, where he broke Nicolas Almagro with a 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-2 win.

Spain, a three-time champion is set to host the best-of-five series on Indoor Clay from December 4 to 6 in Barcelona. Despite being the crowd favorites, Costa, one of the members of the team showed asked for a bit of humility and calm, saying, “We’ve achieved the most difficult, which is to win the Davis Cup, and even the public is making us favorites,” but added that the opposing team is composed of great players and they are as motivated to win.

This is Spain’s seventh Davis Cup final.