- Maria Bueno commentated on the Brazil v Spain Davis Cup tie for SporTV
It was a quick turnaround for Maria who arrived home in Sao Paulo early last Wednesday morning and went to work on the Davis Cup on Friday.
She also had a couple of meetings to fit in, one of which was a visit to Relógios Rolex Ltda, the Brazilian arm of the world-famous Swiss watch company.
There she met with Stephan Meili, who heads up Rolex in Brazil and showed her around the operation.
“It was fascinating,” Maria said. “I was shown the laboratory where they repair and service watches from all over Brazil. It’s like something out of science fiction… very clean, sterile actually!
“Of course, Rolex Watches are famous for their precision and they are very proud to deliver a special service when it is needed. It was a really interesting visit, I must say.”
Maria then took herself off to the Ibirapuera indoor arena where Brazil’s Davis Cup team welcomed Spain in their bids to secure a place in the World Group for 2015.
She was pretty much ‘mobbed’ by autograph hunters and fans seeking photos with her.
“It took us ages to get up to the [TV commentary] box and I was astonished, when I got up there, to see the whole stadium rise and applaud me,” she said with pride.
“It was such a nice gesture to be acknowledged by the crowd, who were all blowing their vuvuzelas and making an unbelievable noise!
“In fact, it all got too much by the end of the day and the organisers banned them [the vuvuzelas] for the rest of the weekend, which spared us all a monster headache!”
Spain had led the head-to-head record 5-2, but Brazil were the victors in the last tie between the two nations, which was a World Group first round match-up in 1999.
The Spaniards have since been the dominant team over the last decade winning four of their five Davis Cup titles, triumphing last in 2011 in a final against Argentina.
On this occasion, however, the visitors were playing without Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer and it brought their 18-year stay in the Davis Cup World Group to an end, when they were defeated by Brazil in the play-offs.
It was also their first loss on clay since that infamous tie in1999.
Thomaz Bellucci won the crucial point for Brazil with a 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-2 victory over Roberto Bautista Agut, which gave the home side an insurmountable 3-1 lead.
Bellucci won his 14th Davis Cup rubber in 16 on clay making a mockery of the world rankings in the process, being placed at 83 compared to the 15 of Bautista Agut.
“It was very disappointing for the fans that Rafa [Nadal] and [David] Ferrer weren’t able to come to Sao Paulo,” said Maria. “They had been heavily promoted in the lead-up and Rafa, particularly, is very popular here.
“Of course, the team that did come are all clay court specialists and were by no means a pushover so our team had to compete at their best, and they did really well, especially Thomaz [Belluci], who has a good Davis Cup record for us.”
Spain won the Davis Cup in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2011 and were runners-up in 2003 and 2012 and the missing Nadal, who hasn’t played since Wimbledon to nurse a wrist injury, tweeted his support for his teammates.
Davis Cup champions Spain
The Brazilians came into Sunday’s final day 2-1 up and needed to win one of the reverse singles matches to keep its spot in the World Group next year.
“This is one of the greatest moments of my career,” Bellucci said. “It’s a great moment for Brazilian tennis and it comes at the right time. We showed our value today.”
“It’s amazing to beat a team like Spain, which has been dominant for so long,” said Brazil’s Captain Joao Zwetsch. “Even without their top players, it was a great achievement by our team.”
Brazil will play in the World Group for the second consecutive time after being absent since 2003 and losing to the United States in the first round last year.
“Success in the Davis Cup is very important for tennis in the country,” added Maria.
“Providing coverage of the matches [via SporTV] is one way to help our team do well because it promotes the game to a wider audience than those lucky enough to get a ticket to watch the tie live.”
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- The Swiss team
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- The French team
The Davis Cup final will be contested between France and Switzerland from 21-23 November.
“I am so pleased for Roger [Federer],” said Maria. “It’s an ambition for him to win the Davis Cup for Switzerland and the way he is playing, it is now looking like a real possibility with Stan [Wawrinka] alongside.
“It will be a dream final against France, who have a really strong team so the tie should go down to the wire if all the top players take part, and why wouldn’t they now, with the trophy so close?”
France booked its place in the final on Saturday when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet won the doubles to give the hosts an unassailable 3-0 lead over the Czech Republic.
Setting their sights on a first Davis Cup win since 2001, the French players ended the two-year dominance of the Czechs with a 4-1 win over the defending champions on clay at Roland Garros.
Federer put his country back in the final for the first time in 22 years by beating Fabio Fognini of Italy in the opening reverse singles on Sunday for a winning 3-1 lead in their semi-final.
The Davis Cup is the only major trophy still missing from Federer’s collection.
Gael Monfils wrapped up victory for France with a win over Lukas Rosol after Jiri Vesely salvaged some pride for the Czechs by beating Julien Benneteau.
Switzerland has never won the competition and lost its only final in 1992 against the United States.
After hosting the Czechs at Roland Garros, the French are trying to finalise a deal for the final to be staged in a bigger venue, with the northern city of Lille being touted as the likely host.
“That’s my next assignment with SporTV,” said Maria. “We will be covering it fully, live in Brazil and I am sure it is going to be a great contest!
“As to which nation will win, it is way too hard for me to call!”
The magnificent Davis Cup trophy
2015 Davis Cup
France and Switzerland head the seeds for the Draw for the World Group of the 2015 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas, which will take place at the ITF AGM in Dubai on Thursday 18 September.
According to the rules, the two finalist nations are seeded one and two in the World Group the following year, and will be drawn in opposite halves, while the other seeds 3-8 are the Czech Republic, Serbia, Argentina, Italy, USA and Canada.
The seeded nations are then drawn against the remaining World Group nations: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Kazakhstan.
Davis Cup logo