King Carlos Reigns in Spain, Beats Roddick to Secure Davis Cup Title

For Roddick, it was a difficult end to the Davis Cup season after having not even lost a single set in six previous rubbers in 2004.

“I'm obviously upset with myself that I couldn't get a win,” Roddick said. “I’ll kick myself a little bit, but I have nothing to be ashamed of. You know, I gave it my all.”

Moya entered the match against Roddick with a poor 0-3 record against the American. But Moya knew those past results were on faster surfaces and were not played in front of his home country fans.

Moya converted three out of six break points he held while Roddick could only convert one in eight break opportunities. The win for Moya improves his Davis Cup record to 20-7 (17-3 on clay) and becomes the new hero in Spain winning his two singles points in the final.

The American team, who was seeking their 32nd Davis Cup crown and first since 1995, knew it was an up hill battle from the start of the tie on Friday, when Moya began the showdown in fine fashion hammering Mardy Fish in straight sets. In the next tie, 18-year-old prodigy Rafael Nadal secured the second point for Spain with an impressive four set victory over a game Roddick.

In a hole down 0-2, the U.S. turned to its top doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan to stave off elimination. And the brother tandem didn’t disappoint putting the beat down on the Spanish duo of Juan Carlos Ferrero and Tommy Robredo. Ferrero, who was the Davis Cup hero in the 2000 finals and a former French Open champ and World No.1, was surprisingly dropped from singles to doubles so Nadal could earn rest for a possible Sunday decider.

"The bottom line is they were just better than us this weekend," said Roddick, whose primary focus since the U.S. Open had been to bring home a Davis Cup title. "They came out, took care of business and they beat us. It's a simple as that."

The real bottom line is that the U.S. no longer excels on clay in international competition. Roddick and Fish are not known for the clay expertise on a surface that demands it. And with Andre Agassi taking a pass and Jim Courier now playing on the senior tour, the U.S. had few options to combat the powerful arsenal of Spain. Vince Spadea was a late addition to the squad, but his participation would have likely made little difference.

In the “dead” fifth rubber, Fish made the final score look a bit closer in the history books with a 7-6(8), 6-2 win over Robredo.

TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Crown Prince Felipe was among the 27,000+ fans Sunday who piled into Seville’s Estadio Olimpico to see their Spanish team finish off the United States in Davis Cup…Carlos Moya was not selected on Spain’s 2000 Davis Cup winning team…Mark Philippoussis is already in Melbourne practicing for the upcoming Australian Open. With a current ranking of No. 109, the Scud will likely not be a direct entry into the first Grand Slam of 2005, but tournament CEO Paul McNamee has granted the two-time Slam finalist a wildcard if needed…Following their loss, the U.S. team played a mock baseball game on the Estadio Olimpico grass…From the “No way, that cannot be true” files: Since reaching No. 1 in March of 1999, the number of Grand Slam semifinals Carlos Moya has appeared in is ZERO…Carlos Moya and Rafael Nadal were both born on the Spanish resort island of Mallorca…In a premier battle of baseline bashers, Jim Courier defeated Thomas Muster 7-6(4), 6-4, to win the Senior Masters title in London’s Albert Hall. “It was a challenging match physically and Thomas caught me off guard in the first set with how aggressive he was playing up in the court with his angles,” said Courier who took home $100,000 for the effort. “I had to make an adjustment to my game to move forward. It was a high level of tennis and a good result, because I won!”… We hear ya Jim, well done...In the all-teen prodigy match-up, 15-year-old Sesil “The Mouth” Karatentcheva rallied to beat Indian 18-year-old Sania Mirza 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 to win the $50,000 Palm Beach Gardens Challenger Sunday in Florida. Was that a juniors event?...Patrick McEnroe says Andre Agassi is welcome to be a part of Davis Cup 2005. With the first round tie played in Carson, California (not too far from Las Vegas) and if Agassi is has a good Australian Open, perhaps he may sign up for one more tie…The Russian Tennis Federation announced Anastasia Myskina was named Russian Female Player of the Year while Marat Safin won the men’s award. The Fed Cup Team took home Team of the Year honors. The selections were made by a panel of journalists and other people we don’t know. Maria Sharapova did not win any awards, nor did her father, Yuri…Speaking of Sharapova, she will face Lindsay Davenport in Pam Shriver’s annual charity event to be held in Baltimore on December 17…Sunday, Andrei Pavel easily won the $125,000 Mauritius Challenger defeating Hyung-Taik Lee in the final, while qualifier George “Don’t Forget I Beat Pete” Bastl claimed the $50,000 Milan Challenger.