Spaniards are tough as nails
Hindustan Times — January 4, 2004

The Spanish Armada comes to Chennai for the Tata Open. In almost every tournament in the world, the winner, if not a Spaniard, would have had to beat one or two Spaniards to win the title. And now Chennai will see these top Spaniards in full force as nearly half of the entire singles draw is comprised of them.

Led by former World no. 1 Carlos Moya, the seeds at numbers 4, 5, 6 and 7 are from Spain. Moya, as we all know, is more than capable of winning here. He is an all-court player and has been on the Tour for a while. He knows how to win, which is the toughest part of winning .

As I have already said, you can teach someone to be a good player, but you can't teach him to win. One has to learn that, himself.

Tommy Robredo, seeded 4, played in Chennai a couple of years back and is fully aware of what to expect. He knows the conditions well, the speed of the court, the balls etc. He is not a volleyer, so we won't see him at the net too much, but his passing shots are lethal (with topspin) and accurate.

Felix Mantilla, seeded 5th, at 27 is one of the older players. He has been around, has had his share of injuries but is ranked 22nd in the world. His big win in 2003 came at the Masters' in Rome, the Italian Open where he beat Federer in the final. He is perhaps one of the hardest workers on the Tour. He himself has said that he lacks the ability of Agassi or Sampras, but he makes up for it with hard work. He is strong and fit and can run all day.

Amongst the others, the man to watch is young Rafael Nadal, just 16 and seeded 6th. Ranked in the top 50 , he became the youngest player to reach the third round at Wimbledon (in 2003).

It also shows that he has no fear of a foreign surface like grass. He is not a big man but has one of the strongest legs. He is mentally tough, which you rarely see at that age. There is very little doubt that he will make the Top 10 in the world ranking very soon.

The rest of the Spaniards, are all tough and though they all grew up on clay, they have learnt to play just as well on hard courts. David Ferer, Ruben Hidalgo, Albert Montanes and Galo Blanco are all here with no pressure on them as all eyes are on Moya and the top seeds in the field.

So how do the Spaniards achieve this? So many good players from a country where football is the preferred sport! Past Spanish champions, Andres Gimano, Manolo Santana, Manolo Orantes and Grulio Sanchez, all have had top quality training facilities.

The Spanish Federation supports various age groups and by way of a feeder system and competition at a young age, gets the best to go to the top. 

The players are very hard workers and they know what the rewards are, when they get to be the best. There is no greater incentive for any player from anywhere, when he knows he can see the world and make a great living from it while playing for his country.