Jaite confirms Argentina Davis Cup team to face Germany

David Nalbandian, despite his drop in the world rankings, will be Argentina's leading player in Juan Martin del Potro's absence when the 2011 finalists visit Germany in the first round of the Davis Cup next month.

Argentina’s new Davis Cup captain Martín Jaite confirmed that Juan Mónaco, Juan Ignacio Chela, David Nalbandian and Eduardo Schwank will face Germany between the 10 and 12 of February at Bamberg for the first round of the World Group.

Jaite did not make any strong modification on the team and due to the withdrawal of Juan Martín Del Potro he summoned the four tennis players who were part of the Argentine team that faced the final against Spain at Seville last December.

“We are going with a very experienced team, with players that have won plenty of battles at the Davis Cup; and they give me a lot of confidence in my first experience as captain,” Jaite, who will travel to the Australian Open – the first Grand Slam of the year – to watch the Argentines playing, assured.

"We know we face a complicated tie with a very compact German team but if I have to summarise in one word what the Argentine team is, I say it's experienced and that keeps me calm," he said.

The 11th-ranked Del Potro, 2009 US Open champion before a wrist injury stalled his career in 2010, made himself unavailable for the tie on clay in Bamberg from Feb. 10-12.

Del Potro, who prefers hard courts, said it would interfere in his early season to have to change to clay for the tie and could also be risky.

The Germans did not confirm team yet. Regarding the type of court, the local team will have a covered clay court. The last time they met it was in 2003 and Argentina won 5-0.