The holders, the United States were dethroned by Spain whose world No.1, Rafael Nadal, had a wonderful day; Juan Martin Del Potro announced himself as the teenage player of the year, the Belgian contingent at the LTA may be about to grow and the British attempt to return to the Davis Cup World Group ended with more questions than could be answered in a year of seminars.

Such was life at the end of a day when Nadal played sublime tennis to defeat Andy Roddick in straight sets in a semi final played in a bull ring which left American No.1 with a sneaking feeling what it must be like to be sliced and diced by a matador. With Nadal's 6-4, 6-0, 6-4 victory, Spain reached the November final where they will meet Argentina. Del Potro, who won four tournaments in succession this summer, dismissed the challenge of Russia's Igor Andreev in the deciding rubber in Buenos Aires. One suspects the choice of surface for the final there will be a clay court. And what price Nadal ending the year having won the French Open, Wimbledon, the Olympic gold and the Davis Cup. Beat that!

One wishes that Britain would get that close again. The 3-2 defeat to Austria at Wimbledon in a World Group play-off was an embarrassing conclusion to yet another of those ties in which we are involved that led to a whole series of contrasts and conspiracy theories. The Net Post's line was humming in the aftermath of a tie in which few in the British camp came out with their credibility enhanced.

Consider the team selection, announced by John Lloyd, the captain, a couple of days before the US Open. The moment Alex Bogdanovic was chosen, eyebrows (and hackles) were raised.

Here is a player who had not won in four live rubbers, who obviously found these occasions very difficult to deal with, who had been coached for the past few months by Brad Gilbert, only because the LTA could not find him anything more worthwhile to do, and who (a challenger victory in Canada apart) was hardly pulling up summer trees.

When the team was announced, Paul Annacone, Britain's Davis Cup coach, stated he watched Bogdanovic's five set defeat to Simone Bolelli of Italy in the first round of Wimbledon and that if he 'continued losing matches like this, he would be a top 100 player.' Another shot of expresso was required.

The captain went along with this, though one wondered if his heart was actually in the selection or whether he did it to keep other people happy. Hopefully, with Bogdanovic's defeat to Alexander Peya in the final rubber yesterday, that is the last we will hear of the matter.

Likewise, when Lloyd chose not to select Andy Murray in the doubles, there was much head scratching. Murray said he was available to play and, surely, in those circumstances, you pick your best player and hope he can pull something out of the hat. The ravenous look on the faces of Jurgen Melzer and Julian Knowle when they discovered their opponents were Jamie Murray and Ross Hutchins said much. Is Hutchins, the son of the head of men's tennis, really good enough to play Davis Cup? Nothing yet suggests he is.

But why did Lloyd not pick Andy Murray? Did he not want to play with Jamie, his brother? Did he want to play with Hutchins and the captain demur? Did the captain really believe that a 95 per cent fit Murray was not a gamble worth taking? Whether one of these or all of them are right, Austria was handed an advantage they did not squander. And, correct the Net Post if it is wrong, but does the LTA not employ a 'specialist doubles coach?' So far, he's hardly come up trumps.

Rumours abound that the LTA hierarchy is becoming concerned that Belgian influence is growing to all-consuming bounds. And yet they expect to announce yet another coach from the nation to join the National Tennis Centre set up soon. Belgium lost 4-1 to Switzerland in the world group play offs yesterday, so we know exactly how they feel.

That tie was played in Lausanne, a small-ish Swiss city which filled a tennis centre to capacity to watch Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka play. The LTA chose Wimbledon, a 11,000 seater No.1 court (which has the least atmosphere of any court at the All England Club), did not put up a single poster, refused attempts by the BBC to publicise the fact that tickets were available, held nothing for kids, and tried to camouflage the half empty stadium and, in every respect, did a shoddy job in promoting a vital tie.

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