Spain wins 2018 Junior Davis Cup after comeback victory
In each of Spain's previous Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas triumphs, at least one player from the team has gone on to make the big time. Albert Costa was a member of a victorious team in 1991, Tommy Robredo and Marc Lopez combined to win in 1998, Roberto Bautista Agut was a champion in 2004, and Jaume Munar, a winner just five years ago in 2013, is already inside the world's Top 100.
Even the greatest Spanish player of them all, Rafael Nadal, has the Junior Davis Cup title on his CV, having defeated USA to lift the trophy in 2002.
So remember the names: Carlos Alcaraz Garfia, Pablo Llamas Ruiz and Mario Gonzalez Fernandez. For they are the latest crop of Spanish winners of tennis' premier junior team competition, after winning a nailbiting final from championship point down against France in Budapest on Sunday.
"This tournament - great players have played, professionals now, like Nadal," Alcaraz Garfia reflected after he and Llamas Ruiz won the decisive doubles rubber against France's Lilian Marmousez and Martin Breysach. "I hope that Pablo, Mario and me reach the Top 10 in the world."
On this week's evidence, it wouldn't be a surprise if that does indeed happen. The Spanish team does not boast the highest-ranked players, but has shown remarkable team spirit and energy through six days of intense competition in the Hungarian capital.
It took every drop of Spanish resolve just to reach the doubles rubber in the final, with France having taken the lead following Marmousez's 6-1 4-6 6-2 victory over Gonzalez Fernandez before French No. 1 Harold Mayot established a commanding lead against Alcaraz Garfia in the second rubber.
Mayot missed a championship point chance on the Spaniard's serve at 6-4 5-3 up, and failed to serve out the match a game later. The momentum now firmly with Alcaraz Garfia, he snatched the next two games to win the second set before powering through the third set to record a 4-6 7-5 6-1 triumph.
"I was nervous, very nervous but I know to play very well to win the match against a very good player," Alcaraz Garfia said after his singles match. "I played well in the first and second sets but then I knew [I needed] to play inside the court and I could win."
That victory levelled the tie, allowing Alcaraz Garfia the chance to return to court alongside Llamas Ruiz to attempt to win the title for their nation for the first time since 2013 and the sixth time overall. It was a chance that the pair grasped with both hands, a 6-2 6-3 win in just 46 minutes completing the comeback.
"The future of my players is very big. I think in the future these boys will be ATP players," Spanish captain David Ayuela Mendez said afterwards. "The first match is complicated but the second match Carlos had a good match and I am very happy for the victory. I am very happy for my players, for my team. I am proud for my players and for my country."
The French team, meanwhile, is left to rue what might have been. But, given time, the team will hopefully be able to take the positives from the week. Their route to the final was not without adversity. Arthur Cazaux, who helped steer the team to victory in European qualifying in August, was forced to withdraw due to an ankle injury just days before the team arrived in Budapest.
An opening day defeat to Denmark left the French scrabbling to qualify for the knockout rounds here. But having found their groove by the end of the week, the team recorded excellent wins against Brazil and Argentina before falling in the final.
"It was a good week for me," was Marmousez's succinct summary of the tournament.
Having fallen to the French in the semifinals, Argentina responded well, overcoming No. 1 seeds Italy in the 3rd/4th play-off on Sunday to secure a place on the podium for a third consecutive year.
But most of the plaudits from this week will, rightly, be saved for the Spanish team.
"A big dinner and a big party," Ayuela Mendez laughed when asked how the team would celebrate. There's little doubt they deserve it."