LOL! Well said! New Spanish players need a smaller fishbowl to get noticed. With one of the all time greats perched at the top and now 3 total in the top ten the Armada seems too much to conquer, even from the inside.
There are many lovely Spanish-speaking countries available in the American continent which would love a world-class athlete in their midst, such as Costa Rica or Guatemala. There, Pablo would be king of the jungle. "Vamos, cheetah".

We, the tennis viewers, are the ones who benefit from this juggernaut ... case in point ... last weeks finals. Certainly the match between Ferrer and Almagro was the best of the weekend.
Although Andujar is not near the top of this Spanish dominance surely he has benefited from the support of the Spanish Tennis Federation on the way up. Were he to move to England wouldn't he have to learn to play on something other than clay. ;)

ah, but that's my point exactly, smr. The juggernaut means that proper player development is in place so that juniors learn the sport properly. He's already past that point though, and he IS a seal in a shark tank. He should become English NOW...after he already knows how to play tennis.

Yes, they do learn their sport properly, in fact there is so much tennis going on here in Spain - challengers, dozens of futures, club team play at all levels - that most of our young up-and-comings are too busy competing at a high level elsewhere (and honing their skills & accumulating precious entry points) to worry about getting wildcards for our three big ATP tour events.

^^^Pablo Andujar isn't a young up-and-comer though.

The LTA is probably working on it as we speak.

Very enjoyable blog, by the way, Cheryl.

cheryl: loved "not the face"....so unkind....so true......;) Yes, please send him our way quick, we need all the help our LTA can get. After all, if Greg Rusedski can do it....;)

thank you, Nadline. :)

deuce - it just occurred to me...on the Rusedski principle, you guys could have James Blake, too....his mom is British if I recall properly.

Blake was asked, but he declined.

Rusedski make the right choice because he would have been forgotten by now if he'd played as a Canadian, but being British has given him a high profile on the tennis world stage - wise choice.

Just think, Pablo would be the British No 2 and the English No1 because the current English No 1 is 242 in the world.

English No. 1 has a much better ring to it than Spanish No. 9 or whatever Pablo is right now.

Think about it. ENGLAND, DUDE. Your key to success......

Only the other day, in another forum I was wondering why Serena did not take up British or Australian citizenship seeing as how the Americans seem to hate her, rooting against her at USO. I think it is a good idea for players to take up citizenship of countries which would value them and help in furthering their career. It would also help in spreading talent more evenly across the world and increase the worldwide appeal of tennis. Win-win for everyone!

cheryl,

Another very interesting blog with some food for thought! I wasn't aware of the situation with Spanish tennis players. I actually really like the idea of him becoming an English player, because it could maybe take some pressure off poor Andy Murray!

vij - good idea. That's what happening in the table tennis world, where so many of the Chinese nationalities have opted for foreign citizenship just so they can represent these countries in their table tennis competition. Too many sharks in the Chinese table tennis waters that the seals can't survive there. So yeah, some of these lesser known Spanish tennis players, who are also quite good at tennis, should think of going to some of those S.American countries to get a chance to represent these countries at competition. Staying in Spain may not get them those chances.

vij: Serena playing for GB...I'm now dreaming of tennis heaven......;)
lucky: thanx for write up of Sasha v David, was as I thought.

If Pablo took British Nationality he would certainly qualify for the olympics.

Nice blog Cheryl! I confess to never having heard of Pablo Andujar so you've expanded my knowledge base somewhat. Perhaps he never made it because, he was just blown past by the others. He also can't have been exceptionally talented. My tennis radar isn't the most advanced, but I'm sure I would have heard of him had he made a mark even 5yrs ago?? I mean even Feli is ranked above him and half the time I feel he [Feli that is] isn't bothered. It is also good for Spain that there are people in the 20-30's of the rankings because they always have someone to fill in for things like Davis Cup. It must have been strange and galling that a Spaniard won in Brazil. Where was Belluci, and the other young talent? Just goes to show the depth of talent Spain has - Almagro wins in Brazil, Ferrer wins in Mexico - both Spaniards, and both playing exceptionally well. The young guns will have to be extremely talented to be able to make it in Spain right now. After all the Raonic's, Dolgopolov's of this world don't have a lot of competition. They can hog the spotlight and develop at their own pace without having to compete with many national competitors. I also hope Spain is generating younger players to move in when players like Verdasco and Feli hang up their racquets in the next few years.

I thought there is a Spanish kid by the name of Carlos Belluda, age 18 this year, one year younger than Tomic. However till now I've not heard anything about him anymore. I don't know whether he's still playing tennis or not. I heard earlier on that this kid won the under 14 tournament and Rafa was speaking highly of him, saying that he's better than Rafa himself when he was taking part in the under 14 tournament. Other than Belluda, I've not heard of any young Spaniard showing potential of becoming a top player.

luckystar - The reason we don't hear about young Spaniards is that the process works differently over there. First, as I mentioned before, Nadal, Ferrer and company steal the headlines...but more importantly, there are so many futures events in Spain that the young players don't have to leave Spain for a long while.

Cheryl, I understand that but the boy (Carlos Belluda) will be 18 soon. I checked the ATP website on info about him but so far only a fewfutures events and nothing else. He'll be 18 soon, if he's that outstanding, he should be making noise somewhere already. So if he's still busy with futures events, not even challengers, that may mean he's not that outstanding after all. The likes of Tomic, Harrison and Dimitrov are already taking part in main tour events, though sometimes through the wildcards.

I can't remember a 16 or 17 year old Rafa, was he given wildcards to any tournaments, especially the clay ones, in Spain (Barcelona, Valencia)?

I just looked it up, luckystar. Rafa was a child prodigy apparently. :)

when he was 15 he was winning futures events left, right and center. That year, just before he turned 16, he made the SEMIFINALS in Barcelona. He was ranked in the 230s at the time, so I think it's safe to say that they gave him a wildcard.

By the time he was 16, he was already playing Monte Carlo and he'd made the third round of Wimbledon....so he was just a phenom from the word go. I didn't start watching him until 2004...the aired his match against Federer in Miami and another against Roddick at the US Open.

And therein lies Rafa's secret weapon on clay.........the Spanish Armada. A lot of people just marvel at Rafa's success on clay without FULLY understanding the dimensions involved. The following, my friends, is the secret of Rafa's success on clay:

1. His unparalleled technical ability (weight: 80%)

2. The rearguard actions of Almagro, Ferrer, Verdasco, Montanes, Robredo etc. (weight: 20%)

Let me say at the outset that Rafa does not need help to win on clay, hell, he doesn't even need to be at 100% to win on clay. I fully fit Rafa can win any clay court tournament operating at 80%.

The interesting bit for me (and this is the bit a lot of people ignore) is the role played (inadvertently) by the rest of the Armada to Rafa's benefit. Note that I said 'to Rafa's" benefit not "for Rafa's" benefit. The Armada, by being such a formidable force, help Rafa without planning it. Any serious contender, during the clay season has to think about beating any one of the Armada guys BEFORE they turn their attention to Rafa. So, while they are negotiating their way round Ferrer, Verdasco, Montanes etc, Rafa has sailed through and is waiting for them (him, fresh as a daisy: them, bruised and battered if they survived the journey) in the semis or finals. This is no joke considering the toll the clay game takes on players in the first place.

To my dying days I will never ever forget Monte Carlo 2010. That tournament was vintage Armada in play. Verdasco crushed Novak (ok Novak was struggling with his own issues then) but he did not play badly, he just ran into a pretty good clay courter, Verdasco. He was the only one of the Armada left standing to face Rafa after they had polished off the rest.

Ladies and gentlemen, Verdasco (novak's conqueror) was allowed only one game, ONE, in the final.

They do not call it an Armada for nothing folks............

@rafaisthebest , 3/1/11 6:07 PM

I love your post, may your words ring the same this year.

If Rafa repeats his clay feat of last year his fans will be laughing all the way to the tapas bars, that will just set him up nicely for Wimbledon and the rest.

Vamos Rafa

rafaisthebest, Great comment. I had mentioned this idea, back during the 2008 French Open, when people where so surprised that Rafa was so dominant.
This is why: Spaniards are temperamental and emotional. If down they will berate themselves and can be hot-headed (although they tend to fight to the end). Rafa is unique in Spanish tennis. Cold as ice and in control mentally most of the time, he has his compatriot's number. Almagro was the sensation of that tournament. He had taken Andy Murray out. Then he met Rafa, and that was it. It took him some time to recover from the beating.
The armada was also responsible for taking out the likes of Hewitt, Stepanek and Youzhny

rafaisthebest - I'm not sure it works that way, for Rafa also has to get past some of his fellow Armada members before reaching the final. For eg, at MC last year, he had to beat Ferrer in the semi before reaching the final. In Madrid he had to beat Almagro in the semi before reaching the final to play against Fed, though Fed had to get past Ferrer in the semi too. So his fellow armada may also hinder his path as well. All said, Rafa is more than capable of beating anyone on clay to win his titles, even if he has to get past Nole first then followed by Fed(Madrid 2009 was an exception). No help is needed from the armada. This year I foresee even more competition from the armada, as both Almagro and Ferrer are playing very well on clay. Fed and Nole may or may not play well on clay this year, we shall see.

Cheryl - thanks for the info, so they do give wildcards to the young and promising Spanish players at the Spanish tournaments. I'm still waiting to see this Belluda boy playing on clay in Spain. It's getting worrying for Spain, that after Rafa, they do not have any young and promising upstarts, while countries like Australia, USA, and some of the Eastern European countries, even Canada, are already showcasing some of their young talents. Who else in Spain can we look out for, other than this Belluda.

rafaisthebest - that's an interesting theory, though I think I must respectfully disagree. I think what you said is perhaps true for the REST of the armada...as in, I think they help each other out. But at the risk of sounding like a Nadal cheerleader, I don't think what they do makes a bit of difference to Rafa's success on clay. He's just that much better than everyone else still that it simply doesn't matter who his opponent is.

He spends the clay season beating Roger, Nole, Ferrer, Almagro Verdasco and others in many various orders. And at the end of the day, what seems to be the case is that the outcome of the match is not determined by which player is on the other side of the net but on whether Rafa's legs are still working.

in 2007 hamburg, federer beat, almagro, ferrero, ferrer and then nadal. has any of the armada other than nadal beat federer on clay? on any surface?

armada has to thank rafa. take him out and they donot even have a grandslam finalist in 8yrs ( ferrero's USopen final in 2003 was the last by non-nadal armada). only ferrer and verdasco made semi-finals of GS.

I don't think the armada can hold a candle to the US golden generation (sampras, agassi, courier, chang) or the aussies before them (laver, rosewall, newcombe) or even the swedes (borg, wilander, edberg) or germans ( becker, stich, graf) or czechs ( navratilova, lendl) or even swiss ( federer, hingis).

oh well, ignorance is bliss. why strive for knowledge when ignorance is instantaneous.

Spanish possible future stars:
Pere Riba, ranked 71 is 22 years old.
Pablo Carreno, 19, ranked 292
Javier Marti, 19, ranked 296
Juan Lizariturry, 19, ranked 530, rising fast.
The Aforementioned Carlos Boluda, age 18, Ranked 557, also in a rising trajectory
Roberto Carballes, 17, ranked 653
Marcos Giraldi, 17 (I don't know his ranking)
Albert Alcaraz, age 15, ranked 1521

Armada or no armada, if Rafa slays all in his path in the clay season that will be good enough for me. I don't care who beat who as long as Rafa lifts all the clay trophies, the bits in between is just detail.

i just realised. spain is doing good on atp, but did they ever have a no.1 or GS winner on women's side? all nations i mentioned above did. even switzerland which had exactly 2 champions has 1 man and 1 woman. wonder why this is so with spain?

about the last player in the list, Albert Alcaraz. He was victorious in the Junior World championships as team leader in 2009. Last time Spain had won that title was in 2000. The team leader then? Rafael Nadal.
He does LOOK like the future Nadal. Check him out:
http://www.rfet.es/jugadores/grupo_competicion/Albert_Alcaraz_Iv orra/2.html

even serbia, a country i like from the heart of my bottom lol... has djokovic and ivanovic

Fedal25,
Arantxa Sanchez Vicario won four Grand Slam singles titles, six Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. Also several olympic medals in singles and doubles. And did reach #1

Conchita Martinez won the singles title at Wimbledon, when she beat Martina Navrátilová in 1994. She also was the singles runner-up at the 1998 Australian Open and the 2000 French Open.

About your comment that the Armada can't hold a candle to the US golden era of players, nobody is arguing that. I don't know what your comment about ignorance means and to whom it is directed. But nobody here is arguing that Verdasco, Almagro and Ferrer are superior to Sampras, Agassi and Courier.

Spain happens to have become the most successful nation in Men's Tennis at the present time, and that's all we are commenting here. And what's that about the armada aside from Nadal never beating Federer?. You think nobody knows that? And why would you exclude Nadal? He is definitely part of it, so if we include him, as we should, Spain has a better record against Federer than any other country.

And of course you were ignorant of two women from Spain winning majors, so who is really showing their ignorance here?

I happen to agree with cheryl. When all is said and done, it really doesn't matter who is on the other side of the net from Rafa when it's on clay. The only question is the condition of Rafa's knees. They seem to be just fine now, so I think Rafa can take on all comers.

the armada starts and ends with nadal. the rest are nothing. i think bruguera, costa, ferrero were better players than this non-nadal armada.

spain still can't match the americans/aussies/swedes in the champions' stake.

nadal should not be part of the armada, because he did not go to any acadamies like the others. his case only highlights how out of the box coaching like uncle tony's can work better than so called acadamies.

The armada doesn't start and end with Nadal....though I would admit that without him Spain wouldn't feel or be so dominant.

No, he didn't go to the academies (muzza did though), but he still grew up groomed on clay and churning his way through the Spanish Futures circuit.

My opinion is that individual instruction, if it's GOOD instruction will always win out over academies, because academies focus so much on being competitive, whereas Toni was able to focus on technique over and over and over. The academies attempt to expose children to pressure in the hopes that they can withstand it. Rafa already could -- academy would have been a waste of his time.

Nadal is my Idol and I also think that he can beat anyone, including of course his fellow Spaniards.
But I have to disagree if what is being implied is that the fact that there so many players from Spain in the top rankings has no positive effect whatsoever in Rafa's success.
If you understand the mentality of the Spanish players, you will know that any victory by any of them is a victory for all. In Spain the Davis Cup is as important as any of the majors. So for one thing, Rafa is uplifted by his fellow countrymen successes. But at the same time, Rafa knows them all very well, and when in the course of a tournament they take out players which are harder for him to beat, it definitely works on his favor. Would he win anyway, specially on clay? Sure, but he may have to work harder, and be more physically spent for the next tournament.

Thanks grafight for the info on the Spanish young players. Who among them is the most promising? So none of them is given any wildcard in the coming clay tournaments?

Rafa is so good on clay that he needs no help from others. As I've mentioned above, he can beat both Nole and Fed back to back on clay (FO 2007,2008; Hamburg 2008). The draw works in such a way that Rafa may still have to get past his fellow armada before getting to Nole I'm the semi, so instead of helping Rafa to tire out his opponents, the armada may also tired out Rafa. Still, Rafa being the king of clay, would still beat them all, whether he's tired or not, the exceptions being Hamburg 2007 final, and Madrid 2009 final.(Rome 2008 loss was due to Rafa had blisters on his foot; RG2009 was because he already had bad knees to start with, coupled with Sod's exceptionally good play and good run then).

Of course the Spaniards can't compared to the earlier days' Australians, Swedes, Germans and the Americans. However they have four slam winners in recent times, starting with Moya: Moya, Albert Coasta, Ferrero and Rafa. They also have three world no.1, in Moya, Ferrero and Rafa, so they fare quite well too. Currently they have three members in the top ten and that's not bad either. If Rafa can get close to or even surpass Fed in the slam counts, who is to say that the Spaniards are not better than the Swiss? Time is on Rafa's side to prove that.

@grafight , 3/1/11 9:22 PM

You READ and UNDERSTOOD my post of 3/1/11 6:07 PM.

Well, the wait is almost over...Rafa, you tease you!!!!

Vamos! Can't wait for the clay season. Nothing like tennis in Europe in Spring.......it's just.......right.

cheryl; I'm glad you said "good instruction" because tennis is littered with creepy/aggressive fathers who have done their kids no good at all. Although Andy attended the academy in Barcelona I don't think there can have been much pressure on him as he turned pro the year after Nole.
I think Rafa's circumstances are unique and you can't extrapolate from them.

I'm with you rafaisthebest, thank God the wait is almost over...I'm running out of Rafa's taped matches to watch. Tennis without Rafa is boring. I hope they will show his Davis Cup match on TV.

Looks like only Chile vs USA would be shown by Tennis Channel. Is any other channel authorized to show Davis Cup matches?

Future Nadal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mARqN2hxZM

Another promising muchacho:
http://blogs.as.com/matchball/2009/11/carletes-sigue-la-est ela-de-rafa-nadal.html

grafight, I have to thank you for your answers to Fedal25..
He seems to have a bit of an issue about spanish players being successful. His arguments hold no ground whatsoever. So, thank you again grafight :)
Just so you know, I'm spanish and in Spain nobody calls the tennis players 'armada' (well, some stupid commentators do from time to time).

Shireling, The term is very common here in the US, probably because it's one of those few things people here know about Spain.
People need to realize how amazing it is to see what Spain is doing. You could argue that Nadal is an aberration which doesn't reflect the overall state of tennis in the country, but then you have the Davis cup, and 2 more player on the top ten, and a very high rate of success, specially on clay.
Yet Spain is not the only country which plays on clay. Most of Europe and South America is used to clay courts. Even Andy Murray developed as a player in Spain, on clay courts. You would think that Great Britain, the birthplace of the sport, the home of Wimbledon, more financially powerful than Spain, with 15 million more people, would be a tennis world power in its own right.

Very interesting discussion. Thank you, Cheryl.

(Ferru smokes ...?!?)

grafight, Spain has more players in the top 20 than any other country. Says it all doesn't it? If you go top 30, even more and would be more still if Lopez wasn't such an a***!
Shireling, term isn't really used in UK either. Ought to be I suppose, cos....um....we sunk it ;) Fat chance tennis wise :)

deuce, If you keep going to the top 100, 500 and so on, it remains true, so Spain not only has quality players but it has A LOT of players in the ATP.

To clarify, in Spain, "armada" is a general term which means "navy fleet", it doesn't specifically refer to the fleet of 1588 which lost many ships in front of English ports, mostly due to poor planning, lack of supplies and bad weather.

Just one year later, the English fleet was defeated by the Armada in fair weather, and in the end Spain won the Spanish-English war in 1604.

So we don't think of the term as some do in the English-speaking world as synonymous with "failure". In fact the Armada was the dominant naval power in Europe for many centuries before and after that lost battle.

We believe it's achievements far outweigh its few defeats. For example the Armada beat the turks in Lepanto, which decided the fate of Europe at the time. Had Spain failed, Christianity might have become extinct.

grafight: Cheers. Ah well, u c us Brits would only remember victories ;)

deuce: you are funny :)

mara - Ferru doesn't just smoke, he CHAIN smokes. He's a very nervous little person.

BTW, Americans don't equate Armada with failure either. We think of it as "really big fleet" though this could be because few people remember that they actually did suffer a defeat.

Honestly, I think we just like the word "armada". :D