Nadal to play for Spain in Davis Cup final

BARCELONA, Spain, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Rafael Nadal, the world's No. 2-ranked tennis player, said he will play for Spain against the Czech Republic in next month's Davis Cup finals.

Nadal's participation in this year's Davis Cup series has been limited by injury. He also missed the 2008 Davis Cup final when Spain defeated Argentina.

Spain's team captain Albert Costa said he expected to field a team of Nadal, world No. 8 Fernando Verdasco, No. 18 David Ferrer and No. 47 Feliciano Lopez for the best-of-five series Dec. 4-6 in Barcelona.

Czech captain Jaroslav Navratil said he would be taking a team of Tomas Berdych, Radek Stepanek, Jan Hajek and Lukas Dlouhy to Spain for the finals. Stepanek is ranked No. 12 and Berdych No. 20 in the world.

The 2009 Davis Cup title will be decided on an indoor clay court. Spain will be looking for its fourth Davis Cup championship, all of which have been won since 2000. The Czech Republic has one title, that coming in 1980.