Fernando went out for a hit today for about an hour with team captain Albert Costa. The end of the practice session proved to be very promising and has put Fernando in a good mood about his chances of being back to a hundred percent for the Davis Cup final.

“Three days have passed since the injury and I’m much better than expected. Every day I feel much stronger and have much more mobility in the area and hope to bounce back and be my best for this weekend,” he said.

Team doctor Angel Ruiz-Cotorro was also was very pleased with his progress: “On Wednesday we will do further testing to make sure that the injury is better, but for now everything is going well and each day we will add a little more to his workload. He has been finding moving easier and he has been hitting harder, and that is a good sign.”

Fernando, who, due to his injury, was being reserved only for doubles with Feliciano Lopez, is now cautious, yet optimistic about his ability to be enlisted for a singles tie as well. “We will take everything with caution, because rushing it will make the problem worse, and I do not want to lose everything I have worked for these three days.

“The truth is that I am very happy to be able to be back out hitting the ball. The medical tests I had this morning confirmed that the recovery on the right track, even better than we expected. On Wednesday I will do some new tests, but I am feeling good and I hope the injury continues to improve.”

(via marca)

The entire team for Davis Cup is finally together in Barcelona to begin their training at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, which will host, from 4 to 6 December, the Davis Cup final against the Czech Republic.

David and Feli, along with coach Albert Costa, who have been training for a few days already, were joined by Fernando and Rafa on Saturday.

Prior to arriving in Barcelona, Fernando’s fitness was assessed at the Clínica CEMTRO in Madrid. Team doctor Angel Ruiz Cotorro explained “We have assessed Fernando and provided the proper treatments. It appears that his injury is not too serious. He has had an iliopsoas contracture of the thigh of the left leg and we have been monitoring it to see how it evolves. He is in the recovery phase. It is logical for these problems to come from a tournament like the Masters Cup, with three very tough matches.”

Team captain Albert Costa admits that the team “needs a few days to be perfect,” but is optistmic: “I have many things ready in my head. I have my decisions made and I am convinced that all the players will be ready to play the final.”

According to Davis Cup rules, the team captain can change change two players up to an hour before the draw, which is due to take place on Thursday. This means that the first team alternate, Juan Carlos Ferrero could have a place in the final, or that David Ferrer may be calld up to play Friday’s singles instead of Fernando, whose energy may be reserved for the doubles with Feliciano.

(via AS)

Fernando’s participation in next weekend’s Davis Cup final is up for question after dealing with severe pain to his adductor muscle and an iliopsoas contracture in the lower abdominal area, during his three set loss to Andy Murray. He underwent an ultrasound that ruled out any serious injury, and will know soon if the injury will have any affect on his participation in the Davis Cup final on the weekend of the 4-6 December in Barcelona.

“It is clear that for me to be at my best for Davis Cup, I will need to recover and try my best and today, after the match, I’ve been doing everything I had to do as a priority, before coming meet the press, but I think it is important. I’ve done what I had to do to try to recover from the fatigue of these three games against Federer, Del Potro and Murray.”

Fernando has previously missed two Davis Cup ties this year dealing with various injuries. Problems in a tendon injury in his left leg kept him from playing Spain’s opening tie against Serbia, while an micro tears in his abdominal muscles and a persistent foot injury kept him out of the recent semifinal against Israel.

If Fernando is confirmed to be sidelined for the final, Juan Carlos Ferrero will replace him on the team. Fernando was named to play not only singles, but doubles with Feliciano as well, so team captain Albert Costa would likely replace him with Rafael Nadal, who is a more experienced doubles player than David Ferrer or Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Fernando has been optimistic about his participation in the final, keeping positive even after his losses at the Year End Championships and hoping, if he is okayed to play in the Davis Cup final, to maintain his current level of play. He is also convinced that Rafa will, despite a poor showing in London, play his best in the Davis Cup final.

“I believe that Rafa in the Davis Cup final will be totally different from the Rafa here. I’d rather have Rafa on my side than any of the two players of the Czech Republic.”

(via marca)

Unfortunately, Fernando didn’t make it out of the round robin stage at the ATP Tour Finals. However he had a great run in his first ever appearance at the year-end finals, pushing everyone in his group to tough three sets matches. He lost to Roger Federer in his first round robin match, 6-4, 5-7, 1-6, to Juan Martin del Potro, 4-6, 6-3, 6-7¹ in his second match, and to Andy Murray in his third and final round robin match 4-6, 7-6⁴, 6-7³, ending his run at the tournament. Fernando will end the year as No. 9 in the world, the first time he has finished the year inside the top 10 in his career.

“Of course it’s tough when you play good and you lose. And also when in all three matches you are close to winning. But, you know, the positive thing is against the No. 1, 4 and 5 in the world, I was really close to winning. So that means that I have the level to win against these guys. I just need to improve a little bit more my tennis and maybe next year I will win these matches.”

Fernando is leaving London on Friday to fly to Barcelona to join up with the other members of Spanish Davis Cup team (minus Rafa, who has a match tomorrow) to prepare for the final against the Czech Republic.

Click below for links to the gallery of his third and final round robin match against Andy Murray:

Fernando spoke in an interview about his fitness and preparation for the upcoming Davis Cup final:

“The foot is feeling good. Physically, I was with some problems in my knees but I took some days off. I hope that all the matches here at the Masters will be without pain and also I will arrive in Spain to play the Davis Cup feeling good. I need to see day-by-day how I will feel and then we will see if I am the best option to play. If not, I will not be angry. I just want to win the Final of the Davis Cup and if it’s me playing, and I’m the one, then of course I’ll be so happy.

“But if I’m not ready, or if I have pain, or I feel that Ferrer or another guy of my team is in better shape than me and can play better than me, then I will talk to the captain. I will not be selfish and think only about myself. I will think about the team and winning the Davis Cup, whoever plays the matches.

“I’m so excited. Last year it was really tough for me to play in Argentina with all those people routing against me but that makes me stronger and tougher. I wish to one day play the Final in Spain and this year it is possible so I’m so happy to have that chance and I will do my best to try to keep the trophy in Spain for one more year.”

click above to hear an audio version of the full interview

(via daviscup)

http://verdasconews.com/gallery

Hi kids. I’ve decided to open up a site gallery here at Verdasco News. Partially because I have a hard drive full of photos of Fernando that I need someplace to put and partially because uploading the photos directly to WordPress is a bit of a headache when I forget to label certain pictures from certain rounds correctly and get confused about what tournament certain pictures came from. Plus, it’s an easier way for you guys to view the pictures. I may also expand it to share video clips of Fernando from various sites for you to watch :)

The layout is sort of bland and the gallery itself will be by no means comprehensive of Nando’s entire career, mostly stuff from 2008 onward, but it’s there and I’ll be slowly adding pictures during the off-season in order to have something to do here while we’re all mourning no tennis on TV!

Be sure to check the site twitter for updates on new uploads. I’ve got a couple albums added to the gallery already, including pictures of both of Fernando’s WTF matches, so you can poke around a bit and check those out. Enjoy!

Lynsey :)

J. DEL POTRO/F. Verdasco 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(1)

An interview with: FERNANDO VERDASCO

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. He kept trying to get away from you, especially in the third set, and you kept coming back. What was the difference for you to keep pulling him back and pull off the tiebreaker in the end? What did you do to get back in the match to force the tiebreak?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: Fight.

Q. How so?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: Fight and try to, you know, keep staying at the match, and try to do my best every point to still having chances to win. You know, is only thing I was doing.

Q. What happened in the tiebreak?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: That I play bad and he didn’t make mistakes and I did quite a lot. So that’s why I lost and he won, no? He didn’t play even one ball long line, you know, in the tiebreak, and I lost maybe four, you know, trying to go not for the winner, but just to move him, no? He was really waiting the cross‑court. Just to try to open the court, I miss few forehands long line. I also miss one forehand cross‑court long. You know, I did many mistakes in that tiebreak. He also served good few points. The tiebreak was gone.

Q. Do you feel you lost an opportunity today to have a chance of getting to the semifinals?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: Of course, it was a big opportunity. Right now the chances are pretty low. You know, needs to happen many things, no, for me to qualify. So, you know, it was pretty hard, no, for me to lose that match after I recover the first set and after I recover the break with 5‑3 on his serve. Is really hard, no? But I tried my best and I was really close.

Q. How do you feel you’ve played overall in the two matches?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: I feel I play good. But I also play against a very good players. You know, is not enough, no, to play good tennis to beat these guys. You need to play a good tennis and also play very good in the very important moments, no, and don’t make mistakes.

You know, there are many things, no, that you need to do to beat these guys. I was pretty close both days, but the level of my tennis I think was good. I need to be happy for the level I played, but also at the same time I’m sad because I lost the matches, no? Is normal.

Q. Did you hurt your leg in the third set?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: No, no. It was a nail. I almost break the nail of my foot. But, you know, many times happen during this year in hard court. You know, I really have my nails very bad. You know, I’m taking care about of that. But is not a big deal that, no?

Q. What are your thoughts on playing Murray next?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: What I thought? You know, what I would think, just to go out and try my best. Doesn’t matter if I have chances or not to qualify. I’m here to try my best anyway and to enjoy. You know, anyway, if I don’t have chances to qualify, I will go out, I will even enjoy more because I know I don’t have nothing to lose. You know, I will go next week to play Davis Cup. I need to keep trying to get my best level for that tie also. I will just go there outside and try to play my best anyway. Doesn’t matter if I qualified or not.

R. FEDERER/F. Verdasco 4-6, 7-5, 6-1

An interview with: FERNANDO VERDASCO

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You were in control of that match for a long time, then it changed in the second set. Describe what happened in that game, what you remember about that game.
FERNANDO VERDASCO: I think that, you know, he was playing really good, and I had few games with my serve with problems till that game, and he finally break me in that one. So, you know, it was also the set. So it was really important game, no? But he was playing good and having his chances, no? I also my chance in 5 All with Love 30. This passing shot going out for nothing. You know, tennis is like that, no? After that, my fitness, it start going down. He also get confidence and the match change.

Q. Did you feel more nervous in those two games at 5-All and 6-5?
FERNANDO VERDASCO: No, it was not nerves.