This weekend sees the final of the Davis Cup World Group take place in Palau Sant Jordi, Spain where Spain take on the Czech Republic.
The opening round of singles matches take place today with World Number Two, Rafael Nadal stepping out on court first. Nadal, who didn't feature in Spain's Davis Cup winning team last year, will open preceedings against Tomas Berdych.
Berdych, who is currently twentieth in the world rankings, has only beaten Nadal three times in eight meetings and hasn't won in the last four attempts against Spain's number one.
Nadal has been on a losing streak as of late and will no doubt be bitterly disappointed with his ATP Tour Final performance, however the former world number one will be hoping to triumph for his home nation as they look to retain their Davis Cup crown against a team who haven't won the trophy since 1980.
Berdych is a strong player who in my opinion hasn't filled his full potential. He is a former world number nine who has a very strong two hyanded back hand. He is a very tall player at 6 ft 5inch and this allows him to utilise his strong serve.
Nadal won't have it all his own way especially having lost all three of his matches at at 02 arena last week. Berdych will fancy his chances against a Spaniard struggling for form but I think Nadal will win it in four sets.
Verdict: Rafael Nadal 7-5 4-6 6-2 6-3
The second singles match of the opening day sees David Ferrer take on Radek Stepanek at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Spain.
These two go into the tie even on the head to head with three wins each. The pair's last meeting came at this years Wimbledon where Stepanek prevailed.
Stepanek is a US Open finalist and is currently ranked twelvth in the world, but he's coming up against a former world number four in David Ferrer, who was part of Spain's winning team last year, however he was the only player to lose his match against Argentina in last years final. So that will give some extra confidence to Stepanek.
This is the match of the weekend where I really can see an upset taking place. I fancy Stepanek to beat Ferrer and maybe history will repeat itself as Ferrer could again be the only Spanish player to lose their match.
Verdict: Stepanek 6-2 6-2 6-7 6-4
Tomorrow's play sees the doubles round take place as Fernando Gonzalez and Feliciano Lopez take on Jan Halek and doubles expert Lukas Dlouchy. See my post tommorow to see who I think will win that
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