"What am I supposed to do?": David Ferrer explains shock Davis Cup snub of Alejandro Davidovich Fokina

The captain of the Spanish Davis Cup team, David Ferrer, addressed the absence of Alejandro Davidovich Fokina for this year's Finals, after confirming a team with up to three players ranked below him. The World No. 14 is, by ranking, the second-highest ranked Spaniard—behind Carlos Alcaraz (No. 2).

However, captain Ferrer—former World No. 3 and 2013 Roland Garros finalist—opted to leave Davidovich out of the upcoming Davis Cup Finals, which was one of the big surprises when the line-ups for the 8 competing nations were announced.

The Spanish team will consist of Alcaraz as the first singles player, leaving Jaume Munar (No. 36), Pablo Carreño Busta (No. 91), and Pedro Martínez (No. 95) as singles options. They will be joined by doubles specialist, the former World No. 1 in the category, Marcel Granollers (No. 8), forming the five-player team that will seek to win the silver salad bowl.

"In the call-up for Bologna, I decided to name four players, and he is not among them because I am afraid that he will withdraw again at the last minute, as he did in the previous stages," Ferrer mentioned in a recent interview with "El Partidazo de Cope" on YouTube.

The truth is that Ferrer was upset by two last-minute withdrawals from Davidovich in previous stages of the tournament. This was the case in the Qualifiers against Denmark, the week after the US Open, where Alcaraz's break after winning the title at Flushing Meadows, was compounded by Davidovich's withdrawal. "When the US Open finishes, he tells me he has problems and prefers not to play," Ferrer mentioned regarding Davidovich Fokina.

"That created a big problem for me because Granollers ended up injured, played infiltrated, and I had already discussed with Alcaraz that if he reached the final, he wouldn't be able to play. I was left with four players, no substitutes..." he added. "When he tells me again that he won't play due to physical and mental exhaustion, what am I supposed to do?"

"What I am trying to do now is cover myself. I called Alex and told him I was going to select those four players and that I was reserving a fifth to see how the season finished. He told me not to count on him if he wasn't part of that first selection," stated the former Roland Garros runner-up.

The absence of the current World No. 14 was a topic of interest in Spain, and the player himself issued a public letter expressing his displeasure at not being considered for the Spanish team this time. The 26-year-old had already withdrawn from the Qualifier ties against Switzerland and Denmark but was counting on returning to the team for the Finals week.

"I believe I deserved to be called up, with all due respect to my teammates. I am the Spanish number 2 and I am at my best ranking," the letter from the current World No. 14 read. "David called me a week ago to inform me of his decision; I had already told him before to count on me because it is always a source of pride to represent Spain. It is his decision, and there is nothing else but to respect it."

In fact, of the 8 countries participating in the tournament, only three players surpass Davidovich Fokina's ranking: Alcaraz (No. 2), Germany's Alexander Zverev (No. 3), and Italy's Lorenzo Musetti (No. 9). Furthermore, Spain missed the chance to field two Top-20 players—something only the Czech team can boast with Jiří Lehečka (No. 17) and Jakub Menšík (No. 19) leading their line-up.

The Czechs will precisely be Spain's rivals in a tie where relying on the 6-time major champion as the leader will not be enough; they will need to secure wins, either in the second singles or the doubles match.