TENNIS in DEPTH.

At the start of this season, defeat for Spain in a home Davis Cup tie against a nation like the Czech Republic – solid, but hardly one of the competition’s powerhouses – would have been unthinkable.

But that was before Nadal’s season became hampered by injuries and before the brief promise of David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco also faded into relative mediocrity the further they got from the clay-court season.

Make no mistake, Nadal, Verdasco and co are still favourites to defeat a Czech team led by Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych when they meet in Barcelona on Friday.

But there are plenty of pointers to suggest a Spanish victory will not necessarily be as straightforward as any tennis pundit in their right mind would have predicted some time ago.

For a start, there is the increasing concern over Nadal’s form since his return from injury, a concern underlined by his woes at the World Tour finals, where he lost all three matches and was bounced out.

Even Nadal himself hints at needing a break.

“The batteries sometimes finish and you need to buy new ones, that’s what I’m going to do next year,” said Nadal after rounding off his London appearance with a loss to Novak Djokovic.

If that wasn’t worrying enough for Spain coach Albert Costa, Verdasco also left London with three straight losses and some injury concerns and admitted the Czechs enter the final with a distinct advantage.

“It is important to have more time to prepare for the Davis Cup final,” admitted Verdasco. “They were practising for a week on clay already. We will have to get used to it as soon as possible.”

The prodigiously talented Berdych has been in his usual infuriating form all year, flattering to deceive at regular intervals and somehow still failing to announce his big-time arrival with a Grand Slam breakthrough.

Berdych was beaten on the US hard courts by Nadal this year but also took a set off Verdasco in a tight tie in Barcelona and won the clay-court event in Munich. The feeling persists that he thrives when the rest least expect it.

Meanwhile, the mercurial, clever Stepanek ended a patchy year on something of a high, reaching the semi-finals in Basel then repeating the feat at the Paris Masters, beating Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro along the way.

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