Embarrassment in Barcelona

BARCELONA

The first Czech appearance in the Davis Cup final in 29 years ended with the team's worst debacle since 1985. Not only did the Czechs fail to win a single game against the Spaniards, they were unable to take more than two sets. Still, the bitter loss did not spoil the Czech tennis party in Barcelona Dec. 4-6.

As an enthusiastic home crowd of more than 15,000 people cheered for Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez in the dying moments of the crucial Dec. 5 doubles games, in which they beat the Czech team of Radek Štěpánek and Tomáš Berdych to give Spain an unbeatable 3-0 lead, Štěpánek suddenly approached Berdych on the court. But he had nothing to say about the strategy for the next point.

"Look, it feels so great in here," Štěpánek said.

Moments later, the Spaniards won the doubles match, kicking off loud celebrations. The whole Spanish team gathered around Verdasco and Lopez on the court, cheering and dancing.

Stunningly, the Czechs did the same thing on their side.

"There was no reason to mourn," Štěpánek said later.

"We had a marvelous Davis Cup campaign, and the final appearance was an unforgettable experience for us," Berdych added.

Berdych and Štěpánek, who single-handedly drove the Czech team to the final, received some words of consolation from Spain's Prince Felippe. But they said they did not need it.

"When the prince was congratulating us, we told him we had enjoyed ourselves despite the loss," Štěpánek said.

The team's appearance in the Davis Cup final sparked an outbreak of tennis fever, with thousands of Czech fans opening their wallets to travel to Barcelona. As the game approached, even travel companies that had not planned to offer Davis Cup trips started including them in their portfolios.

"Travel companies even began offering tennis tickets on top of regular non-tennis trips to Barcelona," said Michal Tůma, spokesman for the Internet travel operator Invia.cz.

"Interest grew as Czech media fired up the tennis hype," said Tomáš Vlášek of travel company Condor.

Don't touch the cup

The Czech players contributed to the hype. Despite traveling to Spain as underdogs, they had remained optimistic.

"We'll win the cup, and then we'll drink until Christmas to celebrate," Štěpánek had said.

Berdych even questioned the readiness of the leading Spaniard and No. 2 world player, Rafael Nadal. "He looks underweight, and he's merely defended himself on the court in recent games," Berdych said before the Davis Cup final.

In a rare moment of humility, Berdych ordered his teammates not to touch the Davis Cup before the end of the game.

"Radek suggested after the draw before the game that we touch the cup for a team photo," Berdych said. "But I told him off and said we could do that only as the winners after the match on Sunday."

On court, however, the Spaniards soon blew away any Czech hopes for winning the cup. In fact, they became the first Davis Cup winner in 12 years to take the final without dropping a single game.

The Czechs lost the first two singles on the opening day, after Berdych walked onto the court to the song "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns 'n' Roses. However, it was the Czech who got lost in the jungle of shots fired by home-crowd hero Nadal. Štěpánek initially brought thousands of Czech fans to their feet during his game with David Ferrer, but he eventually lost in five sets.

It was a heavy blow to Czech expectations. Berdych and Štěpánek had hoped to regain some respect in the doubles match, which they entered with an impressive record of seven wins and zero losses. But Verdasco and Ferrer were too strong for them.

"They had everything on their side," Štěpánek said after the game. "We fought for our pride with everything we had, and we can keep our heads up."

František Bouc can be reached at
fbouc@praguepost.com