(Olé)
It's on David's official site and now all over the Argentine press as well (for example Olé) - tonight, David is going to travel to Stockholm. As he's planning to play this weekend...
After the recovery from his adductor tear went better (and faster) than expected, David has decided to join the Argentine team against Sweden. The plan is for him to play the doubles with Horacio Zeballos on Saturday and perhaps also contest a live singles rubber on Sunday.
Update (04/03)
David's name has by now been officially added to Argentina's list of players. But they're not the only ones to have changed their team's line-up at the last minute. Sweden's captain Thomas Enqvist has exchanged doubles expert Simon Aspelin for Joachim "Pim Pim" Johansson. A move that was to some extent expected by Argentina and the Argentine press.
The draw, the schedule for the weekend and everything else soon...
17 comments:
The legend of David Nalbandian grows. What a warrior. If you like surprises, David can certainly deliver them. Here I was gearing up for IW, and now this. WOW!
To be honest, I'm not too happy about this. I mean, his doctors were against David playing DC, already before the tear.
And I can only hope that David will emerge from this as the warrior who did everything he could to help his team. And not as the idiot who once again ruined his health in order to play DC...
but Julia, they are just talking about the doubles, and as u know, requires less running, i dont think he could be in danger, plus they say he has fully recovered, i understand ur concerns though.
He took the IW wild card along with fellow Carlos Moya.
and now Sweden, wut can we say about this guy, he will do anything 4 his country, now am thinking, IF Argentina wins the doubles, they could have a chance, with David everything is possible, he likes it the hard way.
Plus it was a game over anyways, hes got nothing to lose, it will be some practice before IW, vamos david, and congrats to Argentina, 1-0 against Germany in the friendlies.
Of course I hope he'll be fine, I'm just not ecstatic at the prospect of having to fear for David's health again. (There's talk about two matches, the doubles and a singles on Sunday.) And I don't think he'll ever take a DC tie lightly. Or as practice.
I just hope he doesn't get injured again. That's all.
And yeah, the victory over Germany in the friendly match was well-deserved.
I am quite shocked. Don't know what to think really... :-/
Hmmmm...
I don't like it.
Let's hope (and pray) for no injuries.
No words... It's amazing how David can make me feel so proud and angry at the same time. I want to hug him because what he's doing (well, I always would like to hug him :D ) and I want to hit him really hard for being so stupid and not think in his career.
I other news... he got the WC for IW. Let's hope he can use it (because it's not the doubles... the speculations talks about an eventual 5th point. Al that if we're 2-1 on sunday. Because for his ranking and if he shows only for the doubles on the list he can replace any player.. I don't want to think who will face Soderling if we're 1-2 for the 4 point.
But let's be possitive (and please pray!!!!)
I'm in shock! This should be really fascinating. :) I haven't been following tennis this week as I thought this DC weekend would be Soda vs. Monaco. What a turn of events!
Leonardo Mayer has been winning several rounds in almost every tournament he has played in and he has been playing the hard court tourneys in the USA. He has lost to the eventual champion at least twice. But losing Juan Monaco is devastating. He could give Soda trouble, and losing him puts them in a real hole and gives Vinciguerra a chance in both his riubbers. But David does know how to play Soda pretty well. I wonder if that is in the back of their minds for Sunday?
With Monaco out, you have to assume Soderking is going to win 2 matches by himself. Vinciguerra has only made it through the Qualification Rounds once this year and is 0-1 in ATP level matches. So he is a horrible #2 player for Sweden. Pim Pim would've been much better, as he won several difficult ATP level matches (notable wins over Monaco and Hewitt in Kuala Lumpur and Stockholm Open)at the end of last year. But his wife just had their first child recently, so he isn't playing competitively right now. So Sweden probably lost their best #2 player.
The Swedish doubles team is very good. Aspelin and Lindstedt are both ranked in the top 30 for doubles and Aspelin just won the Dubai Doubles title on Sunday with Paul Hanley. But both players are in their early to mid thirties and might be vulnerable. David may be able to make that match-up quite a bit more interesting. Given how David has played out of the gates when coming back this year, anything is possible.
I could see scenarios for having David play Vinciguerra too now that Monaco is out. I think both Monaco and Mayer would've beaten Vinciguerra, but now that Monaco is out and the surface is indoor carpet......who is Argentina's best indoor carpet player? lol
As some people know, I will be cheering for the winner of this tie for the rest of the year as these two countries feature my favorite players. Louk Sorensen and Conor Niland are not likely to get Ireland very far any time soon. Tons of drama and scenarios aplenty now. Sweden is 2-0 against Argentina at home on Indoor Carpet, and Argentina is 2-0 against Sweden at home on Clay. Arguably, the best indoor carpet player of all time is named David Nalbandian, and he won the Stockholm Open title over Soda in 2008...
When they say David might play doubles and a reverse singles, they really mean that he's going to play the 2nd singles match, the doubles, and then maybe one more singles. David won't let some someone like Mayer make Argentina go down 2-0 on the first day, he's going to play day one and get at least 1 point for Argentina before the doubles. The only problem is that he might have to play Soderling, who is also a god of the indoor courts like David, so that might be an epic match. And if they don't play then he will probably face Joachim.
Yes, looks like Johansson's playing the second singles for Sweden. And Soderling's playing doubles too, Aspelin's out.
John Hardesky, as crazy as David can be when it comes to DC, I really don't think that he will play on day one. After all, it's Thursday afternoon now and he hasn't even arrived in Stockholm yet...
And Mayer is not at all a bad player.
Leo Mayer's been playing pretty well - I think he's got a decnet chance of winning his singles tomorrow.
Well nobody can really know the mind of David Nalbandian. I'll say he would want to play on day one if they loose the first match, he doesn't want it to go to 2-0 and depend on the doubles bc as far as I know David doesn't really have experience playing with Zeballos and he usually wants to be in control of his Davis Cup destiny, and not leave it in other peoples hands. I can see David wanting to rest a day and play day 2 and 3, but I can also see him playing on all 3 days as a last minute surprise. Only time can tell I guess
I think David is capable of just about anything when it comes to DC. But I don't think he's crazy enough to want to play on all three days.
Aspelin just won the Dubai Doubles event last Sunday with Hanley. It is curious that they would decide not to use him. He is ranked #15 in the world. I think that is actually a very encouraging sign for Argentina on Saturday.
As for David playing potentially 3 matches, God I hope not. He has to fly to California to play Indian Wells Masters Event next week, and after flying to Sweden from Argentina, he is going to exhausted if he isn't careful. He needs to get some points and give himself the opportunity to go out for his smatches in that Masters in decent shape.
FYI: Lindstedt and Soderling won in straight sets against Romania in their last DC match. Lindstedt recently played in the finals in Marseille and is ranked #30 in the world. I could easily see Enqvist switching to Aspelin (#15) and Lindstedt, although I'm guessing the reason they are dropping Aspelin is because Robin and Robert have played doubles before, and Aspelin has usually played with players from another country.
The scenarios are endless though, especially since Pim Pim is now playing singles, but Enqvist has been quoted as saying Vinciguerra is also playing well and may also end up playing. I personally hope to see Robin and David playing doubles on Saturday. Mayer is the hottest player on the Argentine team. He will undoubtedly play 2 matches, so David will almost assuredly play the 2nd rubber on Sunday, and only play seriously if it is 2-2.
Sweden have obviously chosen Lindstedt because they're planning to rely on Söderling/Lindstedt for the doubles. And Enqvist won't be able to switch to Aspelin, as Aspelin is not on the team.
The problem with David is that he will never be careful (one could also say reasonable) when playing DC. He'll do what he has always done, he'll go for it, full throttle. Whether on two legs or on one. Or even if they have to carry him off the court afterwards.
Therefore I hope that he'll only play the doubles...
In Auckland he got injured before e played he first round. In Buenos Aires duing the 2. round and so he wants to play one or two 3-5 set matches?
He takes a big risk again for the Davis Cup. I fear that he will be injured again and won't play in Indian Wells. But I hope it wan't be so and he will play in Indian Wells and be in good form and fit.
@Julia
24 hours ago, Aspelin was listed on the Davis Cup team web page and Pim Pim was not. Also, David wasn't listed there 24 hours ago. But it now reflects what you just said about Aspelin in your post above. So what I wrote at the time was based on this page before the updates:
http://www.daviscup.com/ties/tie.asp?tie=100014445
So Pim Pim replaces Aspelin instead of Vinciguerra....hmmmm... lol. So many last minute moves.
About the concern of David going full force in the DC rubbers. lol I share your concern, especially with Indian Wells coming up next week. I know he will go out there on 1 good leg if possible, and so does Sweden, so they have every reason to be a little nervous. Soda just came out in the news and said DC should be played every 2 years like the World Cup. lol
I was so relieved to see the schedule and that Mayer will play Soda in the 1st match on Sunday, making the liklihood of an epicly exhausting Nalby/Soda 2-2 tie breaker match almost impossible. As you know, both Nalby and Soda are two of my favorite players, and I want both of them to thrive next week at IW and don't want to see a repeat of that 5 set 9-7 match from 2008 this week. lol
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