体坛英语新闻：Corretja becomes new Spanish Davis Cup captain

MADRID, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Alex Corretja was presented on Wednesday as the new captain of the Spanish Davis Cup tennis team.

Corretja replaces Albert Costa, who stepped down from the position earlier in the month after masterminding Spain's triumph over Argentina in the final of this year's Davis Cup. It was the second time that Spain had won the trophy in the last three years under Costa's guidance.

As a player, the new captain formed part of the Spanish team, which also included Costa, which won the Davis Cup for the first time for Spain in 2000, while his greatest individual achievement were reaching the final of the French Open in 1998 and 2001, although he lost both times, to Carlos Moya in 1998 and Gustavo Kuerton in 2001.

He will face a difficult introduction to his first job as Spain's top two singles players, Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer have both publically announced they will not play Davis Cup in 2012 in order to concentrate on their individual form. Corretja said this Wednesday that he would speak to the pair to try and convince their to change their minds.

His debut at the helm will be when the Spanish begin the defense of their crown against Kazakhstan in Oviedo over three days from Feb. 10-12.