Carlos Alcaraz debuts with the National Team against Copil

Spain plays between Friday and Saturday as a clear favorite an old-style Davis Cup tie with the memory of Manolo Santana very presentsince the five-game matchup (four singles and one doubles) against Romania will be played in Marbella, the town where he lived during his last years and where one of the Navy’s tennis pioneers died last December , which is still listed as the Spanish player with the most qualifiers (46) and total wins (92).

Roberto Bautista, number one of the national team, will be the protagonist in the opening of the first day from 12:00 at the Puente Romano Tennis Club. The 33-year-old from Castellón and 15th in the world will face the two of the Romanian team, Gabi Adrian Boitau, 22 years old and 716th. “The weeks of training in Davis are very good. I’m happy to be with my teammates to pick up the pace. And happy to be the one to start and play again in Marbella”, said Roberto.

Next, Carlos Alcaraz, the great attraction of the series in the absence of Rafa Nadal, who is now preparing to play in Indian Wells, will debut with the National Team against one rival, Marius Copil (31st and 259th), the only professional along with the doubles player Horia Tecau (19th in the pairs ranking), who was retired and returns to lend a hand to his compatriots. “I am super happy to be able to debut, to represent my country, something that was a dream for me and I can finally achieve it,” said the 18-year-old from Murcia, who was champion of the Junior Davis Cup in 2018.

On Saturday, Alejandro Davidovich, the other national debutant, and Pedro Martínez are assigned, in principle, to play the doubles match from 11:00 against Nicolae Frunza (619th) and Tecau. “I’m excited to be able to debut on Saturday in doubles with Pedro. And that it’s at home is a plus for me. It will surely go well,” said the man from Malaga. Then Bautista will run into Copil and Alcaraz with Boitánif the fifth meeting is necessary.

Tribute to Santana

Pablo Carreño and Stefan Palosi are the players who remain without competing in the tie, although there may be changes from one day to the next. “The difficulty was choosing which player to leave out. Any choice would have seemed good to me because it was easy for me to choose”, argued Sergi Brugueracaptain of Spain, who spoke about the tribute that will be paid to Santana on Saturdayon the track that bears his name: “It is more deserved than anything that can be done to anyone, because he was the pioneer who put Spanish tennis where it is. Any tribute that is paid to him falls short, but I am very happy to be in Marbella and participate in it.”