TNT Sports
Nadal in way of Sluiter
By
Published 04/04/2004 at 21:10 GMT+1
Hot on the heels of an outstanding performance at the Miami Masters, encapsulated by a straight sets victory over world number one Roger Federer, 17-year-old Rafael Nadal join the Spanish Davis Cup squad for his second outing against the Netherlands in th
Eurosport
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Played in familiar surroundings of his native Mallorca, Nadal will join the current Roland Garros holder Juan Carlos Ferrero and 1998 champion Carlos Moya, not to mention another talented performer Tommy Robredo.
But their formidable reputations means nothing to Dutchman Raemon Sluiter,
"Even though it's an away match against Spain, I still think there will be a lot of people from the Netherlands there, wearing the orange," he told the official Davis Cup website.
"Of course they want us to win, but they are also there to just have a couple of great days. First of all we are tennis players, but we are also entertainers, so it is good to see them having a good time."
Sluiter remembers only too well the two nations last meeting in Eindhoven in 2001.
The 25-year-old defeated Ferrero 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 on his debut, in the opening rubber, which set up victory for the Netherlands.
"On my debut against Spain I played a great match," he says.
"The nice thing was that I also won that match against Ferrero, but even if I had lost, it was still a good match and I was able to play my best tennis.
"I think that is what it's all about. The pressure is big, and different in Davis Cup, but somehow I liked that pressure. It brought out my best tennis," Sluiter continued.
Incidentally, the seeds were sown eleven years ago, when Sluiter watched on television, Netherlands challenge Spain in their first encounter.
"It's quite a coincidence with the meeting coming up that the first thing I remember of the Davis Cup was when we beat Spain away in 1993," he says.
"(Paul) Haarhuis won two singles rubbers, and with the score at 2-rubbers-all, [Mark] Koevermans came back to beat [Sergi] Bruguera from two sets to love down.
"That was the first time that I thought: &lsquothis is what it is all about, this is undoubtedly the most beautiful thing in tennis.' From that moment on I really started looking differently at the Davis Cup."
Joining the likes of Richard Krajicek, Sjeng Schalken and Haarhuis was a dream come true for Sluiter, whose big chance against Spain came out of the blue.
"The whole week I was practising and hitting the ball really well," remembers Sluiter.
"Richard Krajicek was injured, (but) I still wasn't counting on playing, not at all, because we had a lot of good players and I think Jan Siemerink was ranked a little bit higher than me at the time, but in practice I think he got a little bit injured.
"The coach got the team together and told us that I was going to play. It was a big surprise, but adrenaline ran through my body and although it was quite nerve-wracking, it was a different pressure, and somehow I quite liked it."
You can follow live scoring and commentary of all the Davis Cup World Group quarterfinal matches on eurosport.com/co.uk from Friday.
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