“Madrid is ready,” announced the mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, to the public gathered at the Palacio de Cristal in Arganzuela this Tuesday. Ready to host again the Davis Cup Finals (from November 25 to December 5), which were presented this Tuesday there.
This time the Spanish city will be co-host, as there will also be matches in Innsbruck (Austria) and Turin (Italy). But for the Madrid Arena, the new headquarters (in 2019 it was the Caja Mágica), the strongest dishes on the menu have been reserved: in addition to groups A and B, it will host two quarter-finals, the semifinals and the final. The main track of the Madrid venue, assured the tournament director, Pato Clavet, is already built and will have a capacity for 9,000 spectators. The response so far is very good, with “everything sold” for the group tie between Spain and Russia and “almost everything” for Spain-Ecuador.
Clavet sees the Russians as very strong, “perhaps the great favorites”, but believes that Spain can have “the most balanced team”. “There are great individuals and good doubles players,” he celebrated. Along the same lines, Miguel Díaz, president of the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation, said that it is a “very competitive” group, which “lacks Nadal” but has “a champion for many years in Carlos Alcaraz.”
For the city of Madrid, World Capital of Sports 2022, hosting an international event like this one is “very relevant” again. It was stated by Mayor Martínez-Almeida. “A lot has happened since 2019, but Madrid is back,” said the councilman smiling, who believes that the chosen facilities are “magnificent” and trusts that the atmosphere will be “spectacular.” “It is a very open Davis, but I hope that Spain will win again,” he concluded.
Before he had thrown a glove on the president of the Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, with whom he assured that he would “love” to play a mixed doubles. “I’m more into boxing, running, mountain and bike, but if you have to wear …”, she picked it up. Later he emphasized the importance of this appointment and all those that project Madrid as an organizational “reference”. “It is a source of pride, because it shows that it is easy to undertake here and there is good public-private collaboration,” he stressed. Finally, he stated that “children need references, and tennis players are.” “Sport is a school of values that the new generations need,” he closed.