At 5-1 in the 3rd set tiebreaker in the doubles? I know someone double faulted for 5-2, what happened after? Was it bad play by the Argys? Did the Spainiards play out of their heads the rest of the breaker? Once Spain won that breaker, I knew the Argy's were in deep doo doo...

Waiting for the youtube of Nalby and del No hearto's fight to be posted

It was bad play by the Argy's and I think it was Nal who double faulted. I was in and out having to do some shopping. It was like watching air go out of a balloon as the crowd sensed it was not going to be a win.I will say that Nal has been a stalwart for Davis Cup and has made it a priority. But Del Potro had every right to go to Shanghai which was a big milestone for him as well. And Nal felt that if Del Potro could have played they might have picked up the singles. Testy lot these Argy's. They are always switching coaches and the Clerc/Vilas feud was rather famous. But Del Potro has always had a good relationship with Nal so it was just two guys who wanted a big win for their country and acted out. I must say I admire Calleri for acting as referee. It is just another example of the stupidity of David Cup scheduling and too many big tourneys too close to each other.

I am not exactly sure what the score was but it was Nalbandian double faulted during the third set breaker and worse missed a very easy high backhand volley wide after a weak return.  There were multiple tight misses from both sides as the Spainards had been up two breaks in the third set before the TB.  Lopez missed a very easy first volley on his break point to lose serve when he was trying to serve out the third set.

Nalbandian's serve was broken at the end of the second when Arg was down 5-6 on serve and trying to get to the second set breaker.  The returns were right at his toenails.

Verdasco who had been hitting nothing but fierce drives at the Argentines all match hit an unreturnable topspin lob at 5-5 in the third set breaker.  It was the best tactical disguise/surprise over the course of an entire match I have ever noticed.

There were MANY fantastic points and all players seemed to make errors because of the pressure but it seemed Nalbandian lost a shade of concentration in the third set breaker.  I wouldn't say he choked, he just missed a couple shots he seemed to be hitting carelessly.  Nalbandian hit many remarkable shots and returns throughout the match.  The last point of the doubles had some exceptional shotmaking and ended with an excited little saraband from Lopez.  Lopez "seemed" to be holding serve easiest of all players on court except for the crucial moment during the third set.

The Spanish team rose to the ocassion and Sanchez deserves credit for substituting Verdasco who played great inspired tennis under huge pressure for Ferrer on day three- very saavy.  Ultimately it was Lopez and Verdasco who won the final with gutsy hard fought tennis.  Lopez deserves mucho credit for turning the tide of momentum after losing the first set of his match with Del Potro.  After he evened the match by winning the second set  he lost all of three points in 6 service games to force the third set into a breaker.  The Spainards are Deep!!!! and deserving... winning without Rafa!!!  A German pro told me long ago that Spain has tons of good players because "they run them like dogs!" 

Del Potro WAS stale from too much tennis and going to China for sure.  He ended up getting injured, that is a sign.  Perhaps the reported badly bitten tongue that Del Potro suffered just before the tie was a presage for the final.

I think that's a fair way to say it: "Nalbandian lost a shade of concentration in the third set breaker...." It wasn't like he completely choked. Still, you get up in that breaker, 2 points from a 2 to 1 set lead, you must close it there. From Spain's perspective it was good they had Lopez serving at 2-5 in the breaker. He hit the service winner wide, if I remember right, and held those two points to get to 4-5 so that put them right back in it.

The fourth set, it looked like Argentina lose a little bit of self belief. I could be mistaken, but it often looks like when Nalbandian gets a little tight on serve the toss is a little lower and he likes to go down the middle (over the low part of the net). He barely missed that down the T serve a few times in the third and fouth sets.

I agree with LendlFan in saying Spain rose. The F-Lo win over del Potro was obviously immense because then it sets up Saturday with F-Lo/Verdasco, who are friends and had played 6 doubles matches in a row in Davis Cup, vs. Nal/Calleri, who are both obviously good players who had played together, but not nearly as much as the two Spaniards.

Spain outplayed them and deserved it. From the Argentine side there are obviously going to be questions starting with the selection of the site in Mar del Plata, which the players - especially Nalbandian who wanted to play in Cordoba - did not feel was the right choice.

It's unfortunate that the schedule continues to play a role - how much of a role is debatable - but when you have the first Davis Cup final in history between two Spanish speaking nations and the World No. 1 does not play, when you have the #9 player in the world unable to play a critical match on the last day of singles play, etc. that's an issue. And I know people say injuries are a part of sport, which is true, but the Davis Cup final will always be more vulnerable to these kinds of occurrences as longa s the ITF sticks to an antiquated format. And I'm not arguing it would have altered the outcome, I'm simply saying when you have an event as important as this one there is no excuse not to have the best players playing in the best health possible.