Shanghai  - Former Argentine tennis player Guillermo Vilas plans to attend the Davis Cup final pitting Argentina against Spain next week in the Argentine city of Mar del Plata, where Vilas himself grew up.

"Yes, I am heading there," Vilas said Wednesday in Shanghai, where he was attending the Masters Cup. "I do not know when. I am returning to Buenos Aires Friday or Saturday, but I do not know when I will be arriving in Mar del Plata."

Vilas, 56, a myth of Argentine tennis, won two editions of the Australian Open, one French Open and one US Open, as well as a Masters.

He said he was happy about having the Davis Cup final played in the city where he spent his childhood and teenage years, and he stressed that Argentina is the "great favourite," particularly in the absence of Spain's world number one player Rafael Nadal.

"To play at home, with the fans in our favour and without the world number one as a rival are all things going for Argentina," Vilas stressed. (dpa)