Small Spaniard packs a punch

Press, 4 March 1982, Page 19

Small Spaniard packs a punch

The most experienced player in the Spanish team is a highly competitive little man called Angel Gimenez. An accomplished player on all surfaces, he is in his sixth season as a Davis Cup player. Although standing only sft 4in, Gimenez is well known for his pugnacity, his nimbleness around the court and his strength of shot. A product of Barcelona, Spain's hotbed of tennis, Gimenez has been representing his country through the grades for as far back as he can remember. He played in the ‘Valerio Cup, Galea Cup and Kings Cup teams before winning promotion to the Davis Cup ranks. Highly respected in his own country, where he has been runner-up for the national singles and won the Spanish second category title, he did not attract wider attention until he captured the British hard court singles title in 1980. Other successes have included the Spanish doubles and the Vienna Open, as well as the gold medal for tennis at the 1975 Mediterranean Games in Algeria. Included among his more important victims are his renowned countryman, Manuel Orantes, as well as Vitas Gerulaitis, Brian Gottfried, John Lloyd, Ulrich Pinner and Mark Edmondson.

The other Spanish players are unknown to most New

Zealand tennis followers, but Jose Lopez Maeso obviously has outstanding qualities because he has accounted for the two Frenchmen who took part in the Winfield Classic at Wilding Park, Yannick Noah and Pascal Portes. He beat them both at the indoor Grand Prix in Paris in 1980, on the way to reaching the semi-finals. One year younger than Gimenez, at 25, Maeso came into the Davis Cup team last year, and was used in both singles and doubles in European zone matches. He was twice a Grand Prix semifinalist;' in tournaments in Nancy, France, and Mar del Plata, Argentina, and has beaten, among others, Ramesh Krishnan and Eddie Dibbs. Maeso has come a long way from his home town, Puertellano, to be ranked third in Spain. He moved to Madrid on the advice of a former Spanish champion, Antonio Martinez, and soon became the country’s university singles title-holder. Three years ago he played in the Penn circuit in the United States, beating a leading Australian, Paul McNamee, in one event. More latterly, he has been to the forefront in Spain, reaching the semi-finals of the national singles and the Alicante international, as well as being runner-up in the Madrid centre championships.

The remaining members of the side are both 19, but one of them, Sergio Casal. has already been blooded in Davis Cup tennis. Spain used him against Algeria, Monaco and Hungary last year, and he built on the foundation established in the Galea and Valerio Cup competitions. He won the Spanish amateur championship in 1979, and later reached the quar-ter-finals of' the Spanish Open. His current national ranking is eleventh. Like Martinez, Juan Aguilera also hails from Barcelona. He is new to Davis Cup competition, but had a successful career in the Valerio Cup and Kings Cup contests. A tennis player from the age of eight, Aguilera reached the final of the Spanish boys’ championship at the age of 14, and captured the national junior singles title in 1979. Later he became Spanish second category champion and went on to beat Billy Martin and Hans Gildermeister. He is ranked thirteenth in Spain.