Lost in this thus far triumphant summer of Rafael Nadal has been advance coverage of the U.S. verses Spain Davis Cup match to be held in a storied bullfighting ring in Madrid Sept. 19-21. At this point it is very conceivable that soon-to-be No. 1 Nadal could add Olympic gold and the U.S. Open to his French Open and Wimbledon wins, a historic tennis season by all standards and on par with a Grand Slam. Finishing off 2008 with a Davis Cup championship would fire up the already en fuego Majorcan.

Although the Spanish players have griped about their country’s choice of Madrid because of its high elevation above sea level—they prefer low altitude and more humid conditions that will slow down the big hitting Americans, particularly Roddick’s serve—crowds of 23,000 in the spacious Plaza de Toros Las Ventas will make for a raucous home court advantage.

The Americans will be big underdogs against Nadal and No. 4 David Ferrer. Andy Roddick and James Blake are ranked nine and eight respectively. After a solid start to the year, including an impressive Davis Cup defeat of France in April, neither American has won a significant match since Roddick, who recently dropped three spots in the rankings, reached the Italian Open semifinals in May.

The winner of the U.S. and Spain semifinal will play the winner of the Argentina-Russia match in Buenos Aires that same weekend; the winner of the Argentinean-Russian match up will host Davis Cup final Nov. 21-23, as both of those countries are due to host either Spain or the U.S. in their next meetings.