A tennis commentator and former player thinks Spain’s Davis Cup captain David Ferrer got his team selection wrong against the Netherlands.
Spain began their campaign knowing Rafael Nadal was competing in the final event of his illustrious career.
They were determined to win not only for their country but to ensure their greatest ever player went out on a high.
But the Dutch contingent had other ideas as they claimed a shock 2-1 victory to reach the Davis Cup semi-finals for the first time since 2001.
Jason Goodall thinks David Ferrer made a ‘surprising’ decision at the Davis Cup
David Ferrer selected Rafael Nadal to play in the first singles match against Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands in the Davis Cup finals.
He was then followed by Carlos Alcaraz who took on Tallon Griekspoor, followed by Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers facing Van de Zandschulp and Wesley Koolhof in the deciding doubles contest.
Nadal suffered defeat which put Spain behind, before Alcaraz got the better of Griekspoor to level proceedings. But the Spanish duo were unable to get the better of Van de Zandschulp and Koolhof, who ended Spain’s hopes of Davis Cup glory with a 7-6, 7-6 win in the doubles match.
During an appearance on Tennis Channel, Jason Goodall, the former coach of Jennifer Capraiti and the GB Fed Cup team, thinks Ferrer made a mistake with how he selected Spain’s team to face The Netherlands.
“That surprised me a bit because if you are looking to win the competition then I would have, perhaps, played him in the doubles today to give him a chance to ease his way in if they needed the doubles,” he said.
“I would have played Bautista Agut, he has finished the season really strongly and has a great record in the Davis Cup.
“Then I would have played Alcaraz at one and maybe played Rafa and Alcaraz in the doubles. Give him an opportunity to play himself into form. It was a match too soon, we haven’t seen him play since the Olympics.”
Rafael Nadal sent warning to David Ferrer after his final singles match
In Nadal’s final singles match, Van de Zandschulp broke his serve in the ninth game of the first set before taking the lead, before surging ahead 4-1 in the second set. But Nadal showed his trademark qualities and claimed one of the breaks back and reduced the deficit to 4-3.
But he was also unable to break serve again for the rest of the match and Van de Zandschulp claimed a 6-4, 6-4 win. This is Nadal’s first singles loss in the Davis Cup since he made his debut in 2004.
In his press conference after the match, had Spain advanced to the next round, Nadal advised Ferrer not to select him to compete in singles again.
“I said that if I wasn’t ready, I would rule myself out. I think I trained well enough. But then in competition I couldn’t perform as I would have liked. He played better than me,“ Nadal admitted.
“I hope the situation works out so that Spain can move forward. And I will continue working so that I can be eligible again. But given how I saw myself today, if I were the captain, I wouldn’t choose myself again.”
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