MADRID — Feliciano Lopez danced around the bullring, his towel a surrogate matador’s cape. The hometown hero had just put the finishing touches on Spain’s 4-1 domination of the visiting Americans with an impressive but virtually meaningless 7-6(3),
7-6(4) dead-rubber win over Davis Cup rookie Sam Querrey.
But one couldn’t blame him for wanting to soak in every red-and-yellow drop of applause that rained down from his fellow Madrileños. The U.S. team’s tenure as Davis Cup champs had come to an end. Spain, meanwhile, had punched a ticket to the final against Argentina.
It was a tall order. U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe had been asked to make do without usual suspects James Blake (exhaustion) and Bob Bryan (shoulder) in his title defense. But in the end, it wasn’t so much the absence of two of his go-to guys so much as it was the red clay of Madrid’s historic Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas. And 21,000 screaming Spaniards. And some guy named Rafael Nadal.
In fact, McEnroe’s last-minute subs performed admirably under the circumstances. The 6-foot-6 Querrey — all but 20 years old and just two years removed from SoCal’s Thousand Oaks High — showed few signs of intimidation and took the first set off King Rafa I before falling 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. And Mardy Fish — but a week away from his wedding vows — came up big on Saturday, teaming with Mike Bryan for a clutch 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 win over Lopez/Fernando Verdasco.
But Andy Roddick, who came into the semifinal riding an impressive nine-match Davis Cup winning streak, couldn’t get past David Ferrer. He pushed the world No. 5 to five sets before succumbing 7-6(5), 2-6, 1-6, 6-4, 8-6. And on Sunday against Nadal, who was nearly sidelined with a gluteal strain, he was simply overmatched. The French Open/Wimbledon/Olympics champ cruised past Roddick 6-4, 6-0, 6-4 in what proved the clincher for the Emilio Sánchez-coached Spaniards, who last won the Davis Cup in ’04 (beating the U.S. in Seville).
For better or for worse (mostly the latter), Roddick stuck to an uncharacteristic serve-and-volley game plan against Nadal despite repeatedly being passed as he followed his first serves into the net. Rafa, meanwhile, was in unbeatable form. The Mallorcan’s usual, punishing groundstrokes were on devastating display. The No. 1 took huge hacks at the ball, consistently passed his opponent and showed little of the late-season fatigue his uncle/coach Toni Nadal had talked about all week.
“Serve and volley — it’s high-risk, high-reward,” said Roddick. “But I don’t know if there was much of a shot for me to sit back and trade punches with him from the baseline on this surface.”
“He wasn’t going to out-grind Nadal on clay,” said McEnroe. “I felt that he had to serve and volley a little more to have a chance.”
In a match delayed more than an hour and a half by rain, Nadal picked on Roddick’s main weakness — his backhand — going at it time and time again. And he even made Roddick’s most formidable weapon — his (is it still the best in the biz?) serve — at times look like a weakness. Roddick had never been force-fed a bagel in Davis Cup competition.
“I don’t know if you can draw up a tougher scenario than playing Nadal on clay away, with this crowd,” said Roddick. “That’s probably the toughest match I can think of. Even Roger [Federer] on grass, at least you can serve and the points are a little bit quicker. This is probably the toughest scenario there is.”
