The bar is high for the Argentine Davis Cup team, who this Friday had his last training session in Buenos Aires before leaving for Norway. They reached the quarterfinals last season and managed to put the powerful Italian team in trouble, which led by Jannik Sinner He ended up becoming champion. For this reason, he was anticipated as a favorite for the series against the team led by Casper Ruud, drawn on December 2, by the Qualifiers 2025. But now the story is different.
He Fjellhamar Arena located on the outskirts of Oslo you will not see the forehands of Francisco Cerúndolo, the best Argentine tennis player of the moment beyond the fact that by ranking it is Sebastián Báez who occupies that place, nor will Báez himself be present and there will be two debutants -Mariano Navone and Facundo Díaz Acosta- in the presentation of Javier Fran as captain.
“We had to overcome different situations, but it’s normal. Over the years you learn that if you want everything to go the way you want, you’re going to go the wrong way and you’re going to be crashing every day. Fran’s (Cerúndolo) situation is unfortunate, especially for him because he was dying to be there, but those are the rules of the game with such an intense schedule, a very tight preseason, the tour of Australia that already demands them to the maximum. It’s not something that you say ‘I can’t believe what just happened to me’. It is a concrete possibility that some play will be downloaded. We had to resolve and we resolved,” said the new captain at the team’s farewell at the Tenis Club Argentino (TCA), in Palermo.
At mid-morning this Friday, around 10:30, the rain stopped and Andrés Molteni (number 17 in the doubles ranking) jumped onto the TCA’s only cement court to train with the sparring partner Augustine Free under the orders of Eduardo Schwankthe vice-captain chosen by Frana. Then, Navone (47th) joined the practice. Diaz Acosta (73rd) was also expected, who finally could not attend, while Tomas Etcheverry (38°) y Horacio Zeballos (4th in doubles) will directly join the delegation in Oslo.
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Navone and Molteni’s last training session before traveling to Norway.
Beyond the power of Casper Ruud, the world number 6 and finalist of three Grand Slams in the last three seasons, Norway does not have another singles player or doubles player within the top 200 of the ranking. Does that burden Argentina with obligations? “I don’t think so. It’s an uncomfortable, difficult series. On the other side is one of the best in the world and that is always a complication. “We are going to the change in temperature, to playing indoors in crazy cold, the time change… It is a complicated series that requires a lot of concentration.”Frana added.
The surface, precisely, is one of the great challenges that the Argentine team will have. “I have only played indoors for four or five weeks in my life,” Navone says. In any case, the native of 9 de Julio, who a year and a half ago was outside the top 200 in the world and surprised many with his rapid evolution, faces his first call-up (and probably his debut) with great emotion and the best predisposition ) in the Davis Cup.
“Sting the ball a little less indoorbut it doesn’t change that much with respect to cement. It also depends on the court you play on. I think Norway is going to put up a pretty fast court, but with Ruud being here I don’t know. Maybe it’s not convenient for them to be so fast because he may have some space. Regardless of all this analysis, a lot will depend on getting there, testing the field and adjusting as we go,” he added in this regard.
Navone also called for restraint in the face of the crossing with Norway. Behind Ruud appears Viktor Durasovic (289°) and the juvenile appears strongly Nicolai Budkov Kjaer (506th), former Junior world number 1 and Wimbledon champion in that same category. “I didn’t play against him, but I’ve seen him. He is 18 years old and is already ranked 500 in the world, so imagine. He is a high-level player who has been growing very quickly. The Junior Grand Slam champions in general are very good and it is likely that he will be a kid that we will talk about in a short time. Durasovic is bigger, but he just won the Nottingham Challenger, he plays very well indoor. “It’s going to be a dangerous series,” he concluded. The cards are cast.