Spanish Davis Cup Captain Albert Costa acknowledged that his team is the favorite in this weekend’s semi-final tie versus France in Cordoba, but he knows that doesn’t mean much.
“[Being favored} doesn’t mean anything until we prove it on the court,” Costa said yesterday, noting that France is still dangerous even without its No. 1 player, Gael Monfils. Monfils will not be playing this weekend because of injury.
Even without Monfils, Costa explained, “they continue to have a great team, with great players, very competitive players, and they are going to make this tie very complicated, I still see it being very difficult.”
Indeed, France will bring quite a formidable team to Andalucia, including world nos. 10 and 11, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon respectively, and world no. 15 Richard Gasquet.
Spain will counter with world no. 2 French Open champion and US Open runner-up Rafael Nadal, no. 5 David Ferrer, no. 22 Fernando Verdasco and no. 28 Felieciano Lopez.
The order of play, or in fact if Nadal will be playing when the action commences on Friday, is still up in the air. This will be the eighth time these countries have met in Davis Cup play; Spain holds a 5-2 record against their neighbors to the north, but France blanked Spain 5-0 in the 2010 quarter-finals in France.
