“If they had respected each other, they would have won five Davis Cups”: Chela spoke about the rivalry between Del Potro and Nalbandian

Juan Ignacio Chelaone of the best Argentine tennis players in the 21st century, gave an interview to the media clank where he spoke, among other topics, about the rivalry between tennis players. To graph his response, the former Top 15 and winner of six ATP titles gave as an example the time they shared David Nalbandian and Juan Martin Del Potro in the Argentine team Davis Cupwhere they were runners-up in 2008.

“In tennis you train alone and compete against everyone. And also that the results of the other, in some aspects, influence yours. Like for example being part of a Davis Cup team, to see who is the best in history, who has the most titles…tennis is about numbers. And the only event that is done by teams is the Davis Cup” The former Argentine tennis player, who today trains the young American Darwin Blanch, began by explaining.

“Sometimes there was a lot of conflict, right? Or the same thing that happened with David (Nalbandian) and Juan Martín (Del Potro). If they had been, I don’t know if they were friends, but if they had really respected each other, they would have won five Davis Cups. Because the two of them played an egg everywhere, singles, doubles…Who beat them? Which team beat them?” stated Chelawho shared the call with both tennis players and represented Argentina between 2000 and 2012.

Del Potro and Nalbandian they shared a team in only six series of Davis Cup in his career. The balance is three victories for Argentina with the same number of defeats with both on the same side. The first series was in 2007, when the team captained by Alberto Mancini lost to Sweden in the quarterfinals by 4 to 1, while the last occurred in 2012, with a 4 to 1 victory against Croatia in Parque Roca. They never got to play doubles together representing the country.