Alejandro Falla and Fabiola Zuluaga to lead Colombian teams in 2020
Colombia will enter the 2020 season with new Davis Cup and Fed Cup captains, with the Federation appointing Alejandro Falla and Fabiola Zuluaga as the leaders of the national squads. Pablo Gonzalez resigned from the Davis Cup captaincy after an unfortunate result at the Davis Cup Finals and will be replaced by Falla who earned the Davis Cup Commitment Award after playing for Colombia between 2001-17. With 31 victories, Alejandro is the third most successful Colombian in the Davis Cup after Mauricio Hadad and Jairo Velasco, looking to pass his experience onto new generations.
Fall had a notable season in 2006 when Colombia defeated Uruguay, Paraguay and the Dominican Republic, securing a place in Davis Cup Group I and staying there for 12 years. Colombia lost six consecutive Davis Cup World Group Play-Off ties, returning stronger at the beginning of this year and beating Sweden 4-0 at home in the Davis Cup Qualifiers to join 17 other countries at the first edition of the Davis Cup Finals in Madrid. There, Belgium and Australia defeated Colombia in the round-robin stage and Pablo Gonzalez decided to leave the leading spot and allow Falla to carry the national squad in the future, making a debut on the bench against Argentina in March. Alejandro is a former top-50 player who competed in two ATP finals in 2013 and 2014, retiring in 2017 after almost 20 years on the Tour.
Back in 2010, Falla was on the verge of beating Roger Federer in the first round at Wimbledon, taking the opening two sets before losing 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, 6-0, also challenging the Swiss in the final in Halle in 2014 when Roger prevailed in two tie breaks. Fabiola Zuluaga will have the opportunity to lead the Fed Cup selection, finishing career with five WTA titles (four in Bogota) and 42 Fed Cup victories, enough for the second place on the Colombian all-tie list. Zuluaga will make a debut in February next year when Colombia plays in Chile against Argentina, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela and the host nation in Group I Americas.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2RqM9Fs
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