"I deserved it" - Spain's No. 2 unhappy after Carlos Alcaraz, Nadal Academy student & two others lock him out of Davis Cup 1st team spot

Spain's first team for the 2025 Davis Cup Finals has been announced, which will be led by World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz. He will be joined by Pedro Martinez, Marcel Granollers and Rafa Nadal Academy student Jaume Munar. One notable player who will not be joining them is their No. 2 ranked ATP player behind Alcaraz, one that has definitely hit a nerve.

Spain qualified for the Davis Cup Finals with a stunning upset win over Denmark in the qualifiers, where Martinez took down Holger Rune from match points down for a comeback win. After going 0-2 down in the tie, Spain won three matches on the trot, including a doubles win with Martinez and Munars combining.

For the Finals therefore, team captain David Ferrer has opted to bring in the big gun -- Carlos Alcaraz, looking to win his first team title for Spain. With Pablo Carreno Busta and Roberto Carballes Baena leaving the squad from the qualifiers, Alcaraz and Granollers, ranked inside the top 10 in the doubles, are the new additions.

No. 2 for Spain in the singles ATP rankings, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina is conspicuously missing, despite Munar and Pedro Martinez ranked below him. Understandably, Davidovich Fokina is not all too happy, saying so in an interview with Marca.

"Being ranked 18th in the world, I think I deserved to be among the four best players in my country, with all due respect to my teammates, who, as I said, are also great players. Now, my goal is to focus on the rest of the season and prepare myself to reach the highest level next year," Fokina said.

The World No. 18 confirmed that Ferrer gave him the bad news a few days ago, despite his insistence that he is fit to play for Spain at the Finals.

"David called me a week ago to tell me he wouldn't be counting on me for the first squad. Before that call, I had already told him he could count on me. I'll always be proud to represent Spain, but in the end, it was his decision, and I accepted it," he said.

To his credit, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina had no ill feelings towards the rest of the squad, saying that he respected Ferrer's decision at the end of the day.

"It was captain David Ferrer's decision, and I respect it. Obviously, I would have loved to be on the roster representing my country, but this time he decided to include other players," he added.

Spain will nominate a 5th reserve player in the coming days for the Davis Cup Finals, meaning Fokina still has a shot of making the team.

Carlos Alcaraz has never gone past the quarterfinals with Spain at the Davis Cup

Six Kings Slam 2025 - Day Three - Source: Getty

For World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, winner of six Grand Slam titles and a silver-medalist at the Olympics, the Davis Cup remains unconquerable so far. In two appearances, he has managed to reach only as far as the quarterfinals, most recently in 2024.

This year, Alcaraz will look to go all the way with Spain, especially with defending champions Italy hampered by World No. 2 Jannik Sinner's absence. The other six teams in the Finals this year are: Austria, Czechia (whom Spain face in the quarterfinals next), France, Belgium, Argentina and Germany.