Carlos Moya

Who says there's no trash-talking in tennis? Here are the highlights from a season with plenty of verbal sparring:

Fighting words

1. "I've got to feel good, he's got about 16 injuries right now … back and hip … cramp … bird flu … anthrax, SARS."
-- Andy Roddick, adding insult to Novak Djokovic's injuries before their quarterfinal match at the U.S. Open.

2. "Andy was saying I have 16 injuries last match, so obviously I don't, right?"

A pair of Spaniards — Davis Cup hero Fernando Verdasco and former World No. 1 Carlos Moya — have replaced Ernests Gulbis and James Blake in the AAMI Classic field in Kooyong, set for January 14-17.

The pair join Roger Federer, Stanislas Wawrinka, Fernando Gonzalez, Marin Cilic, Marat Safin and Marcos Baghdatis in the eight-man exhibition event.

Former French Open finalist Martin Verkerk has announced his retirement from tennis.

The Dutchman enjoyed a surprise run to the final of Roland Garros back in 2003, using his big serve to full effect to beat former champion Carlos Moya and Guillermo Coria before losing to Juan Carlos Ferrero.

His efforts during that golden year of his career lifted him as high as 14th in the ATP rankings, but he struggled with injuries thereafter, undergoing shoulder surgery the following year.

In theory, two players are all a country needs to win the Davis Cup. In practice, it almost never works out that way.

General

- This is the 97th Davis Cup since the competition began in 1900, and the 28th since the introduction of the World Group in 1981.

- 120 nations competed in Davis Cup by BNP Paribas this year.

- The breakdown by surface for all Davis Cup Finals (including this year) is as follows:

Outdoor 69
Grass 55
Indoor 27
Clay 22
Carpet 11
Hard 8

(Note: 1975 Final (South Africa d. India by walkover) not included in above figures)

 Marcel Granollers, ranked 56th in the world, will replace injured number one Rafael Nadal in Spain's team for this month's Davis Cup final against Argentina.

Captain Emilio Sanchez-Vicario handed Granollers a place alongside the more experienced David Ferrer, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez. Santiago Ventura will join the side as a reserve.

Nadal ruled himself out on Monday after failing to recover from tendinitis in his right knee.

Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus withdrew from his first-round match at the Metz Open ATP tournament with what appeared to be a serious back injury.
Baghdatis had won the first set 6-4 and was trailing Croatia's Ivo Karlovic 2-1 in the second when he screamed with pain and fell on to the court after serving.

He received treatment on his back for several minutes before being carried out on a stretcher.

Top seed Karlovic goes on to meet Spain's Carlos Moya.

Gilles Simon lost the last five games of the final set and was eliminated by Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 Tuesday in the first round of the Open de Moselle.

Also ousted was Nicolas Almagro, a two-time winner on tour this year who fell to Eduardo Schwank 7-6 (5), 6-2.

Top-seeded Ivo Karlovic, No. 5 Paul-Henri Mathieu and No. 5 Dmitry Tursunov safely advanced to the second round.

Karlovic was trailing Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 4-6, 2-1 when Baghdatis retired with a back injury. Karlovic next meets Carlos Moya.

Carlos Moya beat Albert Montanes 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 Monday in the first round of the Open de Moselle in an indoor match between Spaniards.

Moya, once ranked No. 1, played in his second final of the year last month in Romania. He improved his record against Montanes to 2-1.

The only seed playing, No. 8 Mario Ancic of Croatia, was upset by French Open quarterfinalist Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 7-6 (3), 6-4. Gulbis will next face Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, who defeated French wild card Jeremy Chardy 7-6 (5), 7-5.

Gilles Simon loves the red clay at the BCR Open.

The second-seeded Simon successfully defended his title at the claycourt event Sunday with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 6 Carlos Moya.

Simon, who beat local favorite Victor Hanescu in last year’s final, claimed his third title of the season and fifth career. The 23-year-old Frenchman improved to 11-1 in his career at Bucharest.