TENNIS in DEPTH.

Now that the dust has had a day to settle after Spains dramatic win over Argentine in the final event of 2008, it is time to examine the result. The best player in the world was missing because of an injury that was probably caused by the stress he put on his body from playing too much tennis. His place on the Spanish team was taken by Marcel Granollers, because the other Spanish players, Robredo, Moyer and Ferrero were not available to play of declined the invitation from the Spanish coach. The number 7 player in the world, who rushed back from China to represent Argentine, was obviously tired and playing far below his potential against Lopez, when he injured his right leg, and after losing his match was declared unfit to participate in the final day’s matches. Del Potro was replaced by Jose Acasuso, a player ranked 48th, and a player who was totally unprepared for such an important match. He did not play well, and he lost in 5 sets to the higher ranked Spanish player Verdasco, who is on cloud nine from his vistory. I don’t want to rain on his parade, but his win was neither spectacular nor dominating, in fact if he had played against del Potro he would have been lucky to have won a set. And there can be little doubt that had the Cup boiled down to a final match between Lopez and Nalbandian, the Argentinian would have won.
So Spain wins the Davis Cup for the third time, and Argentine loses for the third time, but it is a shame that the game’s best players were not playing, and that the quality of the tennis was so poor. It was an anti climax after watching the top 8 players playing in the Master’s Cup just a week or so before. By comparison the Davis Cup final was a flop! There were no top ten players playing in the event after del Potro was injured, and while the action was tense and exciting, it left a sad taste in my mouth knowing that the winning team won almost by default.
It is too demanding for the top players to have to participate in so many events, and the number of injuries reflects this problem. Playing 20 or more events, plus Davis Cup, plus exhibitions and either the Olympics, the Pan Am games or the Asia/Pacific Games is a gruelling proposition. Every fan who attends a tournament wants to see the top players, but unless the top players receive byes into the later rounds, the final matches will be played between low ranked players who find their way into the finals through retirements of the best players through injury. The WTA will reintroduce byes for their players in 2009, let’s hope the ATP follows suit.

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• What’s in store for January on the ATP calendar.

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