FUENGIROLA, Spain — Neither Rafael Nadal nor Spanish captain David Ferrer would say Monday whether or not the 22-time Grand Slam champion will play on the Davis Cup Ultimate 8, his final occasion earlier than retirement.
Spain is scheduled to face the Netherlands on Tuesday within the quarterfinals on an indoor arduous court docket on the Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena in Malaga. The winner will play within the semifinals on Friday. The championship can be selected Sunday.
At a crew information convention held at a lodge in Fuengirola, about 20 kilometres south of the competitors venue, Nadal was requested how he has been feeling in follow in current days and whether or not he is able to play.
“That is a query for the captain,” Nadal responded, drawing amusing from Ferrer, sitting to the star participant’s left.
Moments later, Ferrer was requested about Nadal’s participation.
“I do not know but,” Ferrer stated. “In the meanwhile, I’ve not determined the gamers which are going to play tomorrow.”
Nadal is 29-1 in his Davis Cup singles profession, 8-4 in doubles.
There can be two matches in singles and one in doubles within the best-of-three matchup between Spain and the Netherlands. Nadal may seem simply in singles, simply in doubles — maybe alongside Carlos Alcaraz, his associate on the Paris Olympics this 12 months — in each or under no circumstances.
There is a cause, although, that the 9,200-capacity enviornment is offered out for Tuesday: This may very well be the final likelihood to see Nadal play a match that issues.
“His final moments on court docket most likely are going to be tremendous particular. Not (simply) for me, however for everybody,” Alcaraz stated. “For me, for the crew, and for everybody right here in Spain, it may be an emotional day.”
Monday represented the primary likelihood for the 38-year-old Nadal to reply questions from reporters and clarify at size his determination, introduced final month, to stroll away from tennis after the Davis Cup.
Nadal has been coping with a sequence of accidents the previous two seasons and has been restricted to solely 23 official singles matches in that span; that features a 12-7 report this 12 months.
“I am not right here to retire. I am right here to assist the crew win. It is my final week in a crew competitors and crucial factor is to assist the crew. The feelings will come later,” stated Nadal, sporting the squad’s purple polo shirt with a tiny red-and-yellow Spanish flag on the left sleeve.
“I am having fun with the week. I am not placing an excessive amount of consideration to the retirement,” Nadal stated. “Will probably be an enormous change in my life after this week.”
Nadal stated it would not “make sense to maintain going understanding that I haven’t got the true likelihood to be aggressive the best way that I wish to be aggressive as a result of my physique” will not enable it.
“OK, I can maintain for yet another 12 months. However why? To say goodbye in each single event? I haven’t got that ego to want that,” Nadal stated, including that he has “been considering for a very long time” about retiring.
He hasn’t performed an actual match because the Olympics in early August. Nadal misplaced within the second spherical of the singles to Novak Djokovic there, then within the quarterfinals of the doubles alongside Alcaraz.
“I’ve tried to organize as arduous as potential for the final month and a half. I am making an attempt to offer my greatest for this occasion,” Nadal stated. “When you do not compete so usually, it is tough to take care of the extent constantly. However the enchancment is there daily. I consider that.”
Along with Nadal and Alcaraz, Spain’s Davis Cup crew consists of Marcel Granollers, Roberto Bautista Agut and Pedro Martinez.
As all of them walked out of the lodge convention room on the conclusion of the question-and-answer session, Alcaraz positioned his proper hand on Nadal’s left shoulder and whispered one thing.
They may share a court docket one final time this week. Or perhaps they will not. It isn’t sure but. What is evident is that Nadal quickly will know for positive that his profession is completed.
What’s going to he miss probably the most?
“I imply, most likely the sensation of competitors, (to) go on court docket and see the followers on the market, the environment once you play large matches,” Nadal stated. “And on the finish of the day, (it) is concerning the adrenaline that you simply really feel earlier than, on the finish, and in the course of the match.”
