Nalbanian heads Argentina 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.
Captain Martin Jaite, who replaced Modesto Vazquez after Argentina's loss to Spain in Sevilla last month, also named Juan Monaco, Juan Ignacio Chela and Eduardo Schwank in his team, the Argentina Tennis Association (AAT) said on Thursday.
Nalbandian, a former world No 3 now ranked 64, is Argentina's most seasoned Davis Cup campaigner having helped them reach three finals since 2006.
"We're going (to Germany) with a very experienced team, with players who have played great Davis Cup battles and in my first experience as captain that gives me a lot of confidence," said Jaite, who travels on Saturday to follow his players at the Australian Open.
"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 in an AAT statement.
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 February 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.