Dubai: Spaniard Roberto Bautista-Agut has called on his teammates to put country first if they are to bounce back into the Davis Cup World Group.
Spain has been one of the most dominant forces in the tournament over the last decade while winning the coveted trophy five times (2000, 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2011) while also finishing as runners-up in 2003 and 2012. In addition, Spain had won on two earlier occasions in 1965 and 1967.
However, in the absence of some of their key players, Spain suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Brazil in their World Group play-offs in September last year and were relegated to competing in the Europe/Africa Zone Group 1 for the first time since 1996. The only saving grace has been that the former champions have received a bye to the second round where they will face either Russia or Denmark on July 17-19.
Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer feature in the top-ten, while Spanish No. 4 Bautista-Agut joins Feliciano Lopez and Tommy Rebredo as the Spanish trio in the top 20.
With so much of talent in their ranks, not being in the World Group is a situation that irks the Spanish players. Bautista-Agut, who has currently risen to his best singles world ranking of number 14, told Gulf News: “It is a difficult situation for all of us to be in a lower division. We are all good friends and we certainly do not like this thought of being in the Europe/Africa zone.
“We have the highest number of players in the top 100, and this is not being seen in the Davis Cup. That’s a shame, but then, this is the real situation. We need to seize our chances and make use of the opportunities that come our way so that we can get back to the World Group,” he said during a visit to the Lacoste lounge at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
“Not everything has gone in our favour with injuries to some of our key players. But that has to be put behind and we have to find ways to rectify this situation so that we can be genuine contenders for another Davis Cup title,” he added.
