Davis Cup Final Begins with Fish Fry; Mauresmo No Regrets for Blowing Off France

Following will be Roddick versus Nadal, a repeat of their first encounter a few months back at the US Open where the American blasted the deer-in-the-headlights teenager 6-0, 6-3, 6-4. This time it will be Nadal as home on the slow dirt in front of a record-setting crowd, no doubt working the Roddick backhand during the long rallies.

Nadal at 18 years, 185 days is the second-youngest player to compete in a Davis Cup final live rubber after Boris Becker, who at 18 years, 30 days played for the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1985 final, losing to Sweden.

The choice of Nadal by the "G3" (Spain's three coaches) drew gasps during the draw ceremony Thursday, putting former No. 1 and French Open champ Juan Carlos Ferrero on the sidelines until at least Sunday.

"The decision was a decision made by the three captains together after surveying the players during the week, during the training sessions," said Jordi Arrese, who explained that Ferrero hadn't had adequate practice time with a blister on his hand.

The choice was also a shocker for Roddick, who will have to adjust his strategy for the young lefty.

"Personally I was expecting to play Ferrero," Roddick said. "You know, that being said, we have a lefty practice partner, one of the youngsters, I've been practicing with him a little bit this week, just in case."

What Roddick can't practice for is playing in front of the largest crowd to ever watch a tour-sanctioned match. 600 more tickets were made available for the final as of Thursday, boosting the record-setting capacity to 27,200.

Ferrero, also expecting to play Friday, bit his tongue Thursday after the draw announcement.

"When I close my eyes of course I want to see myself on court on Sunday and I want to see myself winning on Sunday," said Ferrero, who ranking in 2004 dropped out of the Top 30 after a season of injury and illness. "Of course I felt a bit surprised by the decision but one has to accept it."

U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe's tight-knit group has been bunkered-down this week, facing the prospect of a legendarily-vocal world-record Spanish crowd, and competing on the team's worst surface. McEnroe has also had to deflect criticism for his choice of fast-court player Fish over baseline grinder Vince Spadea, but has chosen to remain with the core players that took him to the final. Word out of Spain is that Fish also beat Spadea in practice, sealing the deal.

"We have guys that really have grasped the team concept of what Davis Cup is and felt that that was important," Pat Mac said. "I haven't really honestly had to do too much because they're all such a positive group of guys that really want to play and support each other."

At No. 19, Spadea is ranked higher than the No. 37-ranked Fish, and widely considered a better claycourt player.

"We are lucky to have Vince here and he's played great and he's really pushed our guys in practice," Pat Mac said. "But at the end of the day, I still felt that Mardy gave us the best chance to win a match here."

Spadea danced around the question when asked by a reporter if he had been given a "fair shake" by Pat Mac.

"I'm here as an American supporting the United States of America," Spadea said. "I got through passport control and I'm here ready to win a Davis Cup. That's as far as I can address these comments...I wasn't expecting to win a practice match and all of a sudden earn my spot. I just felt it was a feel kind of thing. Patrick has to live with his decision. There's another day tomorrow. We'll see what happens. I'm hopeful that we win."

It remains to be seen whether the U.S. starters can adopt a claycourt mentality in Seville, or successfully "hit through" the slow red clay en route to what would be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, upset in a Davis Cup final.

Adding to the slow conditions were heavy rains in Seville on Wednesday and Thursday. While Roddick and the Bryan brothers have not dropped a Davis Cup match this year, Spain has won its last 11 home ties on the red.

"We just have to focus on what we do," Pat Mac said. "It's still played on a court, the dimensions are the same, et cetera. But, you know, as you hear from the guys, they've been preparing mentally for it for a while."

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Results from Thursday in the final round robin at the Senior Masters were Anders Jarryd d. Guy Forget 6-2, 7-6(5), Jim Courier d. Pat Cash 6-3, 6-2, Richard Krajicek d. John McEnroe 6-4, 6-7(4), 10-7 (Champions' Tiebreak), and Mikael Pernfors d. Michael Stich (walkover, illness). The quarterfinal match-ups for Friday are Courier vs. Forget, Pernfors vs. McEnroe, Thomas Muster vs. Cash, and Krajicek vs. Jarryd...From Eurosport earlier in the week: "You can forget a Rafael Nadal-Andy Roddick duel in the Davis Cup finals: despite Juan Carlos Ferrero's poor form, the hosts are counting all the way on the former world No. 1 to play the singles alongside Carlos Moya." Stone...MSNBC headline on Thursday: "Fish starts off against Moya, then Roddick takes on Ferrero" Stone...We hear that Ashley "Anna 2.0" Harkleroad and Alex Bogomolov, Jr. are sneaking off this weekend to get married? Slow down kids, grab a copy of annulment papers while you're in the office...Anders Jarryd on retiring from tennis: "I just took things easy for six months, but then I was bored. It's important to have something you like to do, and I missed the competition. Then I started working with Sweden's Davis Cup team from 1996 to 2002. I now play league tennis in Sweden and run coaching camps. My time's quite flexible for playing the senior tournaments."...U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe on going with Mardy Fish over Vince Spadea on the red dirt: "All things being equal, I think Mardy's got more of a hitter's chance than Vince. He can serve big, he can hit the big shots."...Jim Courier on playing the senior tour: "There's no question that the possibility of having something taken away from you gives you the dreaded p-word. I definitely got some perspective and so that's why the biggest joy of this year has been the fact that my shoulder is OK and I can play. I retired because of the grind of the tour, not because I didn't want to hit tennis balls any more. In fact, I was hitting with Pete Sampras a couple of days after quitting. I've never lost my love of the game."...The USTA has picked Carson, Calif. for the first round of U.S. Davis Cup play versus Croatia in March...Amelie Mauresmo says she has no regret blowing off the Fed Cup, even after watching France lose in the final: "I came back from vacation on Sunday and I saw the last two matches on television. I don't regret at all not going to Moscow because I took my decision for sporting reasons. I discussed my reasons with (captain) Guy Forget but that will stay between him and me."