Massú´s Chile big favourites to bash Barbados

Nicolás Massú debuts as Chile´s Davis Cup captain against Barbados tomorrow – and a comfortable win is on the cards.

Barbados – Chile have slumped to the Americas Zone Group II following the glory days of Massú, his Davis Cup assistant Marcelo Ríos and Fernando González.

It means the only way should now be up for double Olympic gold medallist Massú and his young team. It would be a major shock if Barbados could beat Chile, even with home advantage.

Chile´s two singles players for the clash, Gonzalo Lama (289) and 17-year-old Christian Garín (380), are ranked far higher than the home side´s best player, Darian King (458). In addition, two of their players, Seanon Williams and Russell Moseley, don´t even have a ranking.

Lama is Chile´s number one for the tie after injury ruled out Paul Capdeville (177) and the 20-year-old is optimistic of marking Massú´s bow with a victory.

He said: “There is confidence in what we can do as a team, but that doesn´t mean that we´re going to win easily.”

The mood in the Chilean camp couldn´t be better ahead of the tie and the players have spoken glowingly of the affect that Massú has had.

Hans Podlipnik (300), called up to play the doubles alongside Jorge Aguilar (362), said: “Of all the Davis Cups that I´ve been involved in, he has really been the best captain that we´ve had. He´s putting in a lot of effort and giving us plenty of advice.”

The man himself is delighted with how the squad have responded to him.

“I´m happy with the team,” said Massu. “They are young, but with lots of enthusiasm. It´s a personal challenge to debut as captain.”

After all the compliments, the action gets underway for real tomorrow and we´ll find out what impact Massú has really had.