Davis Cup, Day 2

Here's what we know:

David Nalbandian, who is prepared to lead his underdog team to a Davis Cup title by sheer force of will, is a fierce competitor and still one hell of a player, rankings be damned.

Albert Costa would have to be off his rocker if he slates Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco to play doubles in Davis Cup ever again. He might also be nuts if he continues to put Verdasco on the team at all.

Fernando Verdasco has no mojo left and he is quickly regressing into a terrific talent but a miserable headcase.

All that to say that Argentina took advantage of some truly awful play by the experienced Spaniards to take the doubles point in straight sets. Not to diminish the Argentines, however. Nalbandian and Schwank played really well, calmly shooting down any opening the Spaniards had and relentlessly exposing their weaknesses.

Seriously, unless something changes dramatically, Saturday may have been the last time the Spanish BFFs ever play a Davis Cup doubles match together. They had absolutely no rhythm and their strategy, assuming they had one, was all over the place. It was one thing that they had such a tough time in the semifinals in Cordoba. But to do it again in the finals? Fool me once...

It's not like Spain has an obvious doubles pairing on deck, but they clearly need to try something else. Verdasco, much as it pains me to say it, has worn out his usefulness for the team. He has zero confidence. You can't use him in singles and he's lost the last three Davis Cup doubles rubbers with two different partners. Lopez' form is better, so I'd keep him around. But maybe you pair him with Marcel Granollers. Oh, and lest we forget, Spain has another perfectly decent player in Nicolas Almagro. Why Costa hasn't given him a chance to play after the year he's had baffles me. Even Nadal is a better doubles player than anyone else Spain fields, but he understandably needs to be saved for singles.

On that note, it falls to Nadal to be the hero and clinch the tie for Spain. Del Potro meanwhile is tasked with keeping Argentina alive and giving Nalbandian a chance to win the title he so desperately covets. (I write that assuming that Nalbandian will replace Monaco to go against Ferrer, if there is a live fifth rubber).

I've already made my position known on this. I think the doubles win for Argentina is just delaying the inevitable. For all the talk about Nadal's supposed fatigue, he showed no signs of it on Friday. He did the same thing after losing the US Open finals against Djokovic: He immediately went to Cordoba and dominated both of his matches to give Spain a pass into the finals. I don't think tomorrow will be any different. DelPo is Argentina's best chance to trouble Nadal. But if the weeks of rest didn't afford the big man enough energy to pull out the grinder against Ferrer, I cannot imagine that he'll have enough in the tank to go toe-to-toe with Nadal after one day to recuperate. Plus, Nadal only spent two hours on court in thrashing Monaco. I take Nadal in straight sets to give Spain yet another Davis Cup title.

But let's say for the sake of conversation that I'm wrong and delPo pulls off the upset. Then we'll have Ferrer and Nalbandian. After the Spainard curses his teammates for making him have to play again, I see another tough match in his future, but still ends GSM in the Spaniard's favor. Nalby will be no slouch, but I don't think the former World No. 3 has enough match play to hold up against Ferrer. The obvious ex-factor will be if Nalby can keep Iron Man out there long enough that his batteries run down. Maybe. But I'm not sure I've ever seen Ferrer lose a match simply because he was tired. I think the longer the match goes, the more it favors Ferrer, not Nalby. Still, anything can happen in a for-all-the-marbles match and it would be fun to watch--if it got to that point, which it won't.