Rafa to Support Spain in WC Final

Rafael Nadal has decided to skip Spain's Davis Cup tie along with postpone his knee treatment to support his country in the World Cup final in South Africa against the Netherlands. Perhaps this is a precautionary measure seeing as it would be a difficult task to be asked to focus on a tennis match, and one that doesn't count for rankings even better, while you're favorite soccer team is playing in a game that could be one-in-a-lifetime.

Sucks for Rafa's Davis Cup teammates who will be doing the dirty work against France while Nadal kicks it with his Wimbledon trophy and a beer.

Traveling to SA also means that Rafa will need to delay the scheduled treatments on his knees, but he has over a month until his next tournament, Montreal, so I'm sure he'll squeeze it in some time in between.

Unless, of course, Spain loses and he takes the rest of the year off. Vamos Espana!

Davis Cup Results: Spain, Russia, Argentina and Serbia Advance

I'm gonna try to make this post a quickie 'cuz of the Oscars. BT Dubs, Zoe Saldana is looking all sorts of amazing: Can you say "SHUT IT DOWN"

Anyways..

Argentina moved on to the quarters of the Davis Cup behind the impressive comeback of David Nalbandian, who proved a large part in his country's victory over Sweden in a deciding singles match.

Spain also advanced, as the defending champs entered the final day of competition needing only 1 win to advance. Instead, the Spaniards got 2, downing Switzerland 4-1 behind singles victories by David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro.

The Serbians clinched their first ever spot in the final 8 after an everlasting marathon match between Novak Djokovic and John Isner, won by the former 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6), 6-4. Sam Querrey then beat Victor Troicki in a match that meant nothing, but made the final scoreline look closer than it actually was. But, conclusively, the Americans put forth a stellar effort despite not having their anchors Andy Roddick, Mike Bryan and James Blake.

Russia closed out their rubber against India 3-2 after Mikhail Youzhny secured the victory with a commanding 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 win over Somdev Devvarman.

Davis Cup Results: Spain, Argentina and Serbia Take Early Leads; France, Croatia Clinch

The Davis Cup defending champions Spaniards kicked off their 2010 campaign with in good fashion. Nicolas Almagro fell to Stanislas Wawrinka, but Spain recovered, as David Ferrer and the doubles team won the next 2 matches to come within 1 match of clinching a spot in the quarterfinals.

Russia got off to a solid start in their rubber as well, as Mikhail Youzhny and Igor Kunitsyn took their respective singles matches to give their country a 2-0 lead. India got themselves back into it, though, when their doubles team of Mahesh Bhupathi and leander Paes won in straight sets.

The French became the 1st team of the weekend to clinch their tie, as the Germans didn't stand a chance against the powerful singles duo of Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Phillip Kohlschrieber and Benjamin Becker, respectively. Julien Benneteau and Michael llodra booked France a spot in the quarters with a 4 set doubles victory.

Croatia also clinched on Saturday, as Ivo Karlovic squeezed out a tough 5 setter of Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti. Marin Cilic followed up Dr. Ivo's win with an east 3-setter Giovanna Lapentti. Cilic and Karlovic then paired up in the doubles, where they won in straights.

David Nalbandian made his return to Davis Cup after an injury-plagued 2009, and he was just as heroic as he was in 2008, leading Argentina to a straight-set doubles win over Sweden. In the singles, the two countries split, as Robin Soderling emerged 6-1, 7-6 (0), 7-5 over Eduardo Schwank, while Leandro Mayer beat Joachim Johansson in 4.

The Czechs became the 3rd team to have already moved onto the next round, as the Belgians barely put up a fight against the strong tandem of Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek, who both won in easy 3 setters. The two then paired up in doubles, again winning in straights to clinch the win.

The Americans have shown just how vulnerable they are without Andy Roddick and James Blake, as Serbians Victor Troicki and Novak Djokovic took advantage of the inexperienced singles pairing of John Isner and Sam Querrey to jump out to a commanding 2-0 lead. Int he doubles, Isner filled the void left by Mike Bryan quite nicely, teaming up with Mike's brother Bob to win in 4 sets.

The Israel-Chile match up has gotten underway after the 24-hour delay.

Despite Quake, Chile Will Still Host Israel for DC; Massu Criticizes Decision

The absolutely devastating 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile over the weekend has not only killed over 700 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless, but it has also made this weekend's David Cup tie against Israel, set to be hosted in the city of Coquimbo, a problematic situation. The ITF has decided not to reschedule and start the tie on Friday, but that has not sat well with Chilean player Nicolas Massu, who told Radio Cooperativa, "For us it would be ideal if the tie had been postponed at least two days, but this is what the International Tennis Federation decided. But the Israelis are in the same situation. We'll be all equal."

I'm with Massu.