SEVILLE, Spain—It felt like a Grand Slam final

SEVILLE, Spain—It felt like a Grand Slam final, not just the star-studded fourth rubber, but the whole tie. Like Centre Court on the last day of Wimbledon, there wasn’t an empty seat where fans could see the action in the massive, indoor/outdoor Estadio Olimpico on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But you’d be forgiven for thinking the passionate crowd was watching Real Madrid play Boca Juniors instead of Spain’s dynastic, deep squad against the hard-luck Argentineans, seeking their first Davis Cup after three prior failures.

It’s now four such shortcomings, after Juan Martin del Potro stumbled late in the fourth set Sunday against Rafael Nadal. The 23-year-old looked as if he lost a major final afterward, just like he did two days earlier against David Ferrer, who reacted like he won his first. And Nadal, owner of 10 Slams? Covered in clay after a celebratory collapse usually saved for Roland Garros, Rafa didn’t hide the fact that this was a necessary salve to cap a damaging season. “Today is one of the most emotional days of my career,” said Nadal. “After such a difficult year, this was a spectacular finale to the season. To win a final this way is very special.”

The source of Nadal’s frustration is Novak Djokovic, twice a conqueror on dirt in 2011, among other surfaces. With a chance to claim the Cup for his country, Nadal faced a taller version of the Serb in the first set—del Potro’s backhands were Djokovic-esque, the same punishing strikes that negated the Spaniard’s built-in clay-court advantage in the Madrid and Rome finals. Rafa’s forehand spin didn’t faze del Potro, either, recalling another recent Nadal nemesis and tower of power, Robin Soderling.

Argentina trailed the tie 2-1, but the pressure was squarely on Nadal. It came from the other side of the net; from the supporters treating this match like a local soccer derby (both sides spoke the same language, after all); from inside, after a season of struggle; and from his teammates watching courtside. Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez, who fell in doubles, didn’t want to be one of the reasons Spain blew a 2-0 lead, and Ferrer, taxed from 11 months of play and a five-hour war on Friday, surely felt more comfortable on the sideline than the baseline.

Nadal’s eventual win, his second of the series, reminded us that as much as Davis Cup stresses the team, tennis itself rarely strays from its individualistic nature. Argentine captain Tito Vasquez’s strategy revolved around one man, Nadal, although we’ll never know what else he had in mind. Would David Nalbandian have faced Ferrer in the fifth rubber, or would he have stayed with the original plan of Juan Monaco? The decision would have taken form into account—and Nalbandian looked particularly sharp alongside Eduardo Schwank in Saturday’s doubles win—but simply put, Davis Cup tactics are about match-ups. They have to be, when a tie consists of just five matches and one player can earn more than half the total points required for victory.

But although an individual can greatly influence the outcome, the Davis Cup isn’t awarded to a single man. The winner is Spain, now for the third time in the last four years. During this run, three Spaniards have earned the Cup-winning point: Verdasco in 2008 (in Argentina), Lopez and Verdasco (in doubles) in 2009, and Nadal in 2011. “Today it was my turn to decide a final,” said Nadal at the post-match press conference. “I think we have deserved it.”

It’s an incredible statistic, a testament to the country’s abundance of athletic riches (Yannick Noah wasn’t available for comment) and dedication to the competition. The greedy question is, will Ferrer get his chance to clinch the Cup next year? The sensible question is, how long can this last? Who knows, but another defense will be difficult. Ferrer all but confirmed he’s done with Davis Cup, perhaps realizing that his window of winning tennis’ biggest singles titles is closing. “At the end of the day, I have been here for many years,” said Ferrer. “Personally we all look for our own calendar.”

Nadal, who only had the opportunity to eliminate Argentina thanks to Ferrer’s valiant effort on Friday, didn’t leave any doubt of his intentions. With a “very complex year” coming up, he won’t suit up for Spain in Davis Cup, instead focusing his patriotic efforts on the London Olympics. “Thank God Spain has a good level of players,” said Nadal, “and there are many good players that will replace us that play really high-level tennis.”

Removing Nadal and Ferrer from the equation would certainly improve Argentina’s chances of ending its ignominious streak, but there were positives to take away from its latest last-round loss—a definite turnaround from the setback to Spain in the 2008 final, despite an identical score—particularly the play of del Potro. If he remains healthy, it’s very easy to see him returning to the ATP’s A-list in 2012. But the Argentine understandably thought nothing of that after yet another crushing defeat. “I have just lost the final,” said del Potro. “The next year, it’s a long way away.”

Regardless of Rafa’s future, he came full circle by sealing Spain’s triumph in Seville, the city where he captured his first Davis Cup in 2004. He wore his sleeves on his knees back then, was unknown to all but hardcore U.S. tennis fans, and was a boy playing—and winning—a man’s game. Advertisements around Seville show this younger Nadal leaping into the air in celebration, looking not much older than countless children yelling his name in the stands today.

Once again, Seville watched Rafa steal the show. The kid is now a king—of clay; he hasn’t lost more than two matches on the surface in a year since 2004—and he defended his territory to more rousing ovations. Nadal is not all of Spain, but as Spanish captain Albert Costa aptly put it, “Rafa is Rafa”—he’s unquestionably the biggest part of the team. Argentina arguably put up a greater challenge to Nadal and Spain than expected, but its Davis Cup dreams are still just that, dreams. “We prepared for a very tough tie,” said Nalbandian, sitting next to a defeated del Potro at the presser. “Sometimes, unfortunately, the opponent is better and that’s the way it is.”

Biggest Upset: Stosur d. Serena, U.S. Open final

It was all set up to be Serena Williams’ day of redemption. She was playing at Flushing Meadows for the first time since her infamous, match-ending tirade of two years earlier, and she spent the fortnight doing her best to remind every fan of the women’s game what they had been missing—namely, the best tennis the WTA has to offer. She had brushed aside putative world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets in the semifinals; now it was the 10th anniversary of September 11th, and Serena said she wanted to win it for the memory of that day’s victims.

You probably couldn’t have found a single person among the 23,000 inside Arthur Ashe Satadium that afternoon who didn’t believe she would succeed. Williams was facing Sam Stosur of Australia, a woman who had frozen in her only other appearance in a Grand Slam final, when she was upset by Francesca Schiavone at the 2010 French Open. When Stosur started nervously against Williams, it looked like we were in for a very quick day. I can remember wondering for a split-second whether Stosur would would win a game.

It was indeed a quick afternoon, but Stosur won more than one game. She won 12, in fact, blowing a sluggish and angry Serena off the court, 6-2, 6-3. The match is best remembered for Williams’s sustained berating of chair umpire Eva Asderaki, but that ugly incident overshadowed a stunningly gutsy performance for Stosur. She won the match they way it should be won, with her best shot of the match, a forehand return winner.

Chakvetadze has nightmares about mugging

An investigation into the robbery of former world No. 5 Anna Chakvetadze’s family home in Moscow in December of 2007 by the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reveals that her father Djamal was beaten up so badly that he had to go through two shoulder surgeries, and that Anna still has nightmares and often wakes up at 3 AM—the exact time the robbery occurred.

Six thieves stole about $260,000 in cash, jewelry and other items and were also said to have beaten Anna (she sustained a significant wrist injury), asking for the Rolex that she just given the day before at an exhibition in Belgium and then telling her, "Keep playing—we'll come again."

Her father Djamal alleges that the wrong men were convicted of the crime and the real robbers were protected by a corrupt police force.

The robbery occurred just a few months after the then 20-year-old Chakvetadze had her best run ever, winning Cincinnati and Stanford, upsetting Venus Williams at San Diego and reaching the semifinals of the U.S. Open. While she had some good results in 2008, most notably by winning the Paris Indoors, her career began to go off track and she has been on and off the tour since then, battling injuries and illness. Her father said that she is still traumatized by the mugging.

She recently ran for the Russian Duma (congress) with the Right Cause Party, but the party was unable to secure even one percent of the vote and she was not elected.

Chakvetadze is planning a return to the WTA after spending much of 2011 dealing with dizziness. She only played 14 matches this season and has seen her ranking fall to No. 229. She will use her special ranking to enter the tournament in Hobart, which starts the second week of January 2012.

Clijsters to be more careful with 2012 schedule

Kim Clijsters says she will be more careful with her 2012 schedule in order to avoid injuries. After winning the Australian Open and climbing back to No. 1 just after reaching the final of the Paris Indoors in February, the Belgian was beset by injuries to her ankle, shoulder, wrist and abdomen.

On Thursday, Clijsters played her first match of any kind at an exhibition in Antwerp, where she defeated No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki.

"The start of 2011 was really good. But after that I made some decisions I no longer would make now," the 13th-ranked Clijsters said on her website. "After a physically and psychologically very strenuous Australian Open, the indoor tournament in Paris was the one event too much…. [but] I don't have any regrets. It was because of my final in Paris that I was able to No. 1 again. Now, I'll be listening to my body much better. I have been working really hard on my serve, because that often did not go well in the past year. And there are a few other details I would like to see improve."

Clijsters has reunited with her former coach, Carl Maes, who indicated that 2012 would be the 28-year-old’s last season. Clijsters herself indicated last year that she had no firm plans to play past the 2012 Olympics.

"Choosing someone entirely new for her final year would perhaps be a bit too tricky," said Maes, who coached Clijsters between 1995 and 2002. "There will always be things you do not have control of, but both physically and on the level of tennis, training is going really well. The main issue is how Kim will put things into practice for a real match."

Clijsters will start her 2012 season in Brisbane and then take a week off to prepare to defend her Australian Open title.

The Last Word: WTA No. 8, Agnieszka Radwanska

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The Last Word returns, and each weekday, starting on Monday, December 5, we'll give you our year-end thoughts about tennis' best players—this time focusing on the ATP and WTA Top 10. We'll alternate tours each day; here's who we've looked at so far.

Best of 2011
It’s a real pick 'em because Radwanska won two big fall tournaments back to back, beating a comparable fields in Tokyo (d. Vera Zvonareva in final) and Beijing (d. Andrea Petkovic in final).

Worst of 2011
Let’s go with another two-fer: In Madrid and Rome, Radwanska won just one of three matches (d. Yaroslava Shvedova, first round of Madrid). In Rome, Radwanska lost her opener to No. 41 Elena Vesnina.

Year in Review
This girl epitomizes the concept of “sneaky good,” losing just three first-round encounters in 20 tournaments. Just four women in the Top 10 played fewer events, so you know “Aggie” didn’t game the ranking system (which is based on a players' 16 best tournament results).

Radwanska lost in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open to the destined champ, Kim Clijsters, and remained comparably consistent through the year. After that two-tournament glitch during the Euro-clay season, she made the round of 16 at the French Open (l. to No. 8 Maria Sharapova). However, her Wimbledon was disappointing (second-round loss to Petra Cetkovska).

Radwanska then caught fire: She won Carlsbad (d. Zvonareva) and played for the trophy in Toronto (l. to Sam Stosur). Angelique Kerber surprised her in the second round of the U.S. Open, but she was the dominant player in Asia (the aforementioned pair of wins). Oddly enough, two of those three first-round losses on the year were inflicted by the same player—Lucie Safarova.

See For Yourself
This clip from Radwanska’s French Open loss to Sharapova gives you a very good idea of how well she can defend. That’s the good news. The bad news is that you can also see how little she does with the ball when she’s on offense.