Abu Dhabi : The Barclays Dubai Tennis Championship is close to David Ferrer's heart given that he made it to the final last year besides reaching a career-high of No 4 in the world around the same time in 2008.
With his more illustrious compatriot Rafael Nadal deciding to give the tournament a skip this year, it's left to the diminutive Spaniard to carry the nation's flag, something he has been doing quite efficiently of late.
Speaking to XPRESS exclusively after his match against Roger Federer at the Capitala World Tennis Championships, Ferrer said: "Winning the Davis Cup with Spain, and that too for the second year in a row, is definitely the highlight of my career so far.
"I played the match of my life coming back from two sets down to beat [Radek] Stepanek in the second rubber."
Ferrer, who has reached the semi-finals at the US Open and the quarter-finals at the Australian and French, said it was a great experience to play all the top players at the start of the year.
"I beat [Nikolay] Davydenko and although I lost to Nadal and Federer, it was good preparation for me. I go to Auckland from here to prepare for the Australian Open and if I have a good start to the year, the rest of it should be fine," said the 27-year-old, who slipped to No 17 last year.
The 5ft 9in Spaniard, whom Federer describes as a dangerous player despite not having the biggest of serves, was quite clear as to who he thought was the best player of his generation. "It has to be Federer, given the number of titles he has won and the fact that he is the No 1. Rafa is close, but then we will have to wait and see till the end of their careers," he said.
Incidentally, Ferrer has never beaten Federer in nine attempts, while he has defeated Nadal three times and has a good record against other top-10 players such as Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Juan Martin Del Potro, Andy Roddick and Davydenko.
But Ferrer believes age might just be catching up with him. "There are many good young players around and so it just gets more difficult every year. I would like to stay healthy, finish within the top 15 this year and win an ATP tournament," he said, hoping to add to the seven he already has on every surface to date.
Career graph
Ferrer has won two tournaments on hardcourts, four on clay and one on grass, besides reaching eight other finals, including the ATP World Masters in Shanghai in 2007.
He has an 11-3 record in Davis Cup matches.
He lost to Novak Djokovic in the 2009 final of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championship, after beating Ivan Ljubicic, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Igor Andreev and Richard Gasquet.
His best result in a Grand Slam has been the semi-final appearance he made at the US Open in 2007. He has also reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open in 2008 and the French Open in 2005 and 2008. His best at the "Big W" is round four.
