CORDOBA, Spain -- Four days after losing the U.S. Open final, Rafael Nadal will play for Spain in Friday's opening singles match of the Davis Cup semifinal against France.
With Nadal ready to go, Spain is favoured to bounce back from last year's 5-0 loss to France at Clermont-Ferrand and extend its record run of 19 straight home wins that dates back to 1999.
Nadal, who lost to Novak Djokovic in New York in four sets on Monday, will open play Friday against Richard Gasquet.
"I am a little tired, as is logical and not in tiptop form because I haven't had much time to train on clay, around 4 1/2 hours," said Nadal, who has a 9-0 record against Gasquet. "And that is cutting it fine for a game against one of the best players in the world on clay."
Spain's second-ranked player, David Ferrer, takes on Gilles Simon in the second singles match on the outdoor court in the Los Califas bull ring.
Spain was without Nadal for last year's matchup with the French, and now not only its No. 1 back but France is missing its top-ranked player, Gael Monfils, who is out injured.
France captain Guy Forget made the surprise move of keeping his highest-ranked player, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, out of the singles. He will play in Saturday's doubles with Michael Llodra against Spain's pair of Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez.
Tsonga, a Wimbledon semifinalist this year, was expected to play Nadal in a highly anticipated match of the two teams' best players.
On Sunday, Nadal is set to play Simon while Ferrer takes on Gasquet in the reverse singles.
Nadal expects to get better as the semifinal progresses.
"I haven't trained a lot and so I am a little off, but that is normal," Nadal said. "If I can have a good match on Friday, I'll be steadier for Sunday's match."
Even with Nadal at less than 100 per cent, the Spain team enters the series in excellent form.
The Spaniards didn't miss Nadal in the quarter-finals when Ferrer and Lopez led their country to its first ever win on U.S. soil in Austin, Texas.
Defending champion Serbia is playing Argentina in Belgrade in the other semifinal.
Home wins by Spain and Serbia would set up a possible rematch of Nadal and Djokovic in the final.
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