Russian Nº1 tennis player Nikolay Davydenko is almost certain to miss the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup, in which Russia will face the Czech Republic. “It will depend on how soon Davydenko recovers,” Shamil Tarpíschev, captain of the Russian Davis Cup team, explained. “He will be back in Moscow next week, so he will not have much time to get ready.”

Tarpíschev also said that the first step will be the evaluation of the player, although, in his view, there is very little hope that Davydenko will be fit to play next Friday. The main obstacle in the world’s Nº4 way to the quarterfinals is the change of surfaces, since he comes from several tournaments on cement and the Davis Cup event will be played on clay.

According to Tarpíschev, the rest of the Russian team (Mikhail Youzhny, Dmitry Tursunov, Igor Andreev and Marat Safin) is ready for the competition. Some of the members of the 2008 team, including Davydenko and Safin, won the 2006 Davis Coup against Argentina.

The Czech Republic will be represented by Tomas Berdych (ATP Nº10), Radek Stepanek (Nº28), Lukas Dlouhy (Nº176) and Pavel Vizner (Nº5 in doubles).