Tennis: Spaniards give Aussies rough ride in Davis Cup final

By RONALD ATKIN

BARCELONA - A vicious war of words erupted in Barcelona last night after Spain took a 2-1 lead in the Davis Cup final by winning the doubles.

There could be no dispute about the excellence of the 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory of Alex Corretja and Juan Balcells over Mark Woodforde and Sandon Stolle, but there was plenty of argument about the deplorable behaviour of the overwhelming majority of home supporters in the 14,000 crowd and the manner in which they were encouraged in disruptive behaviour both by Spain's captain, Javier Duarte, and some members of his team.

The support was so raucous and so clearly designed to upset Australian concentration that official action should have been taken, as the laws of the competition permit when spectator involvement is deemed to have broken the rules.

Australia's captain, John Newcombe, who had held fire after the opening day, let rip last night. He revealed he had complained to the supervisor, Sweden's Stefan Fransson, before the start of the doubles.

"The behaviour of the crowd in Lleyton Hewitt's match on Friday was disgraceful, and I've never been in a match like today's, where every time our boys hit a winner 14,000 people booed. I've never ever seen that on the world stage before.

"I think their unsportsmanlike behaviour has been displayed in front of the world. They might feel proud of themselves but the whole world has been watching. They just showed no class. I congratulate the Spanish players for a great match. They deserved to win. But the Spanish people need to look at themselves, where they're coming from."

Though Fransson called Newcombe, Duarte and the French umpire, Bruno Rebeuh, together in the middle of the second set in an effort to calm things down, the chaos did not abate.

Rebeuh, the official involved in the Jeff Tarango fracas at Wimbledon four years ago, repeatedly appealed for silence and calm.

Repeatedly he was ignored as klaxons blared, an impromptu band pumped out music between points when the Australians were serving and whistles and jeers aimed at upsetting the visiting pair were finally muted only late in the match.

Woodforde said afterwards: "I felt like a caged animal out there." Calling the crowd "disgraceful", he added: "I've never known so many people boo for any type of winner we hit."

The overweight and overwrought Duarte, who had the gall to award the spectators 11 points out of 10 for their support, was a particular disgrace, prancing around beneath the umpire's chair and egging on the audience to even more wretched behaviour.

Not far behind him were the rest of the Spanish team and their cohort of coaches. It could turn out to be a successful ploy today, but if so this will prove a bitter Cup.

Spain's decision to keep back their best player, Corretja, for this doubles turned out to be a winner, though it was his partner, Balcells, wearing an apple-green bandana and sporting Victorian sideburns, who came up with the goods when it mattered. Inelegant he may have been, but he made the difference.

Doubles has been Australia's strength for years, thanks to Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge. But Woodbridge is back in Sydney on paternity standby, and for his final Davis Cup tie Woodforde was partnered by Stolle, son of the more famous Fred.

A banner in the Australian corner of the stadium pronounced "Ole Stolle", but it was a sorry Stolle who failed to offer Woodforde enough back-up.

Woodforde's Davis Cup doubles record was, until yesterday, an impressive 17-4, but this was his third loss out of four rubbers in tandem with Stolle. The humiliation started in the opening game as Stolle dropped serve amid the hullabaloo.

Only three games had gone before Newcombe was complaining to Rebeuh when whistlers in the crowd managed to unsettle Woodforde into a double-fault. The umpire's appeal for calm was booed.

Despite a loss of nerve as Balcells served for the first set, Spain fought off a break point and sealed it after 41 minutes on their fourth set point.

Australia's great opportunity to get back into the match was cast away in the second set. After Woodforde had survived five break points on his serve to hold for a 3-2 lead, the Australians promptly broke Corretja to love to go 4-2 up.

It was at this point that Fransson chose to step on court for his chat, to no purpose whatsoever. Amid a barrage of cheers for anything Spanish and boos for everything Australian, Spain swept the next four games to go two sets in front.

By now a comeback was clearly beyond Woodforde and Stolle. They had three break points for a 3-1 lead, only to be denied every time.

From 2-3 in the third set Spain captured four of the final five games amid mounting hysteria. Game, set and match to Spain in everything except sportsmanship.