Argentina Ready For Team GBR

It's a brand new year and another occassion for our racquet kings to start their conquest towards Davis Cup glory. Certainly last year early exit was pretty much painful after almost capturing the crown in 2006.

So once again, Alberto MANCINI and his boys will start all over again only this time with the backing of home crowd beckons in the first round. And who is our opponent? Well it's non other than Great Britain. But the real question here is that will 2008 be kind to us? Only time will tell.

Argentina will most certainly start as favourite for this tie considering the fact we have some of our best names available. While Great Britain have been weakend by the absence of their top player, Andy MURRAY because of injury. The only setback for MANCINI was the withdrawal of Juan MONACO after he picked up an ankle injury in the recent Movistar Open in Chile. His replacement will be Sebastian PRIETO.

The true gulf between these two sides is illustrated by the current ranking list which shows there are 19 Argentines rated higher than Britain’s number one.

"I think that’s what makes our team so strong,” said MANCINI, Argentina’s captain, referring to his nation’s strength in depth. “We had a few injuries at the start of the year but we still have a very good team. We have a good record and I hope that can continue.”

For the record, Great Britain only win against Argentina goes all the way back in 1928. The most recent meeting was in 1989, with Argentina triumphing 3-2 on grass in Eastbourne.

The full draw unfolds as follows:

Friday
David NALBANDIAN v Jamie BAKER
Agustin CALLERI v Alex BOGDANOVIC

Saturday
Jose ACASUSO/David NALBANDIAN v Ross HUTCHINS/Jamie MURRAY

Sunday
David NALBANDIAN v Alex BOGDANOVIC
Agustin CALLERI v Jamie BAKER