Sergi Bruguera: “I will wait until the tournaments are over to decide the fifth player”
BARCELONA, 24 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The tennis players Carlos Alcaraz, Roberto Bautista, Pablo Carreño and Marcel Granollers will be part of the Spanish team in the Davis Cup Finals, which will play the ‘Final 8’ of the Tennis World Cup in Malaga, from November 22 to 27, so the The name of the fifth tennis player will be decided in the coming weeks.
“The fifth player for the moment I will reserve to give it, normally the calls are made very soon, there is a month left for them to start playing. I will wait until the tournaments are over to decide,” announced the captain of the Spanish team, Sergi Bruguera, on Monday. at the headquarters of the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation (RFET) in Barcelona.
In this way, the number one in the world, Alcaraz, will lead Spain in his assault, while Rafa Nadal, the second in the ATP ranking, will not be available. Yes, Carreño (15) and Bautista (22) will be there, along with Granollers, twelfth in doubles. Thus, the pending name could be between Alejandro Dadiovich (31), Albert Ramos (40) or Pedro Martínez (61) among others.
“Nadal told me at the beginning of the year not to count on him. He is having a difficult year from the foot, also his son, and he has been playing for a thousand years with wear and tear, so playing Davis is a brutal extra expense,” he said. Bruguera.
On the fifth name, the captain of the national team admitted his doubts. Thus, his decision will depend on the performance of the tennis players in their next previous tournaments. “There are three weeks left to play good qualifying rounds and see who arrives in the best possible shape and can serve me more,” he added about a “pure and hard” assessment of who is in better shape.
In the doubles, in the absence of knowing the partner for Granollers, there is still no “stable” partner during the circuit. “It’s always a bit to see how the situation is and sometimes it depends a lot on the matches. In the end you play the two singles first. It conditions the rival and it’s seeing them come. I like to meet the tennis players, with Pablo or Carlos. I have faith in tennis players who are good in doubles and when they are important” he pointed out.
Precisely, on the number one in the world, Bruguera raised the data, which “speak for themselves”. For this reason, Alcaraz, at 19 years old, “will continue to improve”, so “you cannot speak better of him”.
The ‘Armada’, champion for the last time in Madrid in 2019, aspires to its sixth Salad Bowl, in another novel edition of the World Cup. The national team will face Croatia in the quarterfinals and will face the winner of the Netherlands-Australia in the semifinals.
“All the teams are very strong. Croatia is one of the most difficult due to the fact that Cilic is a Grand Slam champion and Coric is in his best year, with a Masters 1,000. In addition, the double is very important and they have the best that there is”, valued Bruguera, who affirmed that they will give “the maximum war possible” and will compete “very well”, as we have done in “all” the eliminations.
The ‘Final 8’ of the Tennis World Cup in Malaga will begin on November 22, days after the Masters Cup in Turin, among other tournaments. The schedule is the most difficult thing in Davis. At least the players will be in Europe, it is much worse to come from the United States”, he referred to Alcaraz, who won his first ‘Grand Slam’ before the semifinals in Valencia.
A tournament that is decided in three three-set matches, “complicating” the favorite poster. “I wouldn’t say there is. The margin of error is minimal, anything that can happen changes a tie for you. The way it’s played now leaves everything more open”, recalled the captain of the Spanish team.
For his part, the sports director of the RFET, Javier Soler, mentioned Nadal’s absence for another year. “We would love for him to have participated, both as a Federation and as a country. But we understand and respect his decision. There is little we can do, wish him strength in his recovery stage and many successes because he is still there, he can still give us good feelings and many joys, although the injuries and baggage take their toll,” he concluded.
