“I hope to control my emotions. I am not here to retire but to contribute to winning the Davis Cup”

Rafa Nadal appears in Malaga with the Spanish team in the Cup Davis. He does this while trying to focus on the mission of once again raising the Bowlwhich would be the sixth time he had succeeded. The Spaniard tries to think as little as possible that in reality this will be his last week as a professional tennis player.

This Tuesday, Spain faces the quarter-finals against Country Low. Even with doubt over the role Nadal will play in the match, whether he will play singles or doubles, the team he leads David Ferrer He addressed the media at a press conference. Rafa shined the spotlight.

“I feel good, I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. I tried to give myself a chance and I decided with time. I’m enjoying the week, I’m not paying much attention to the withdrawal. “It will be a big change in my life after this week. I’m very excited and happy to be here,” he said of his farewell to professional tennis.

Nadal, if he is on the court, hopes to “control his emotions”. “I’m not here to retire. I’m here to help the team win. It’s my last week in a team competition and the most important thing is to help the team. The emotions will come to the fore. “Before and after I will be focused on what I have to do,” he said.

The preparation hasn’t been easy, as he admitted, and he can’t even be sure if he can play: “I tried to work as hard as possible for a month and a half. I try to give my maximum. “He’s the best for this event. When you don’t participate so often, it’s difficult to maintain the level constantly. The improvement is there every day, I believe,” he said.

“There is no ideal ending,” Nadal said in response to questions about his farewell. “Ideal endings usually happen in American films. It’s not something that worries me in that sense. My farewell will be whatever it will be. What I want is for the team to be competitive and that she can win the Davis Cup “It would be a big goodbye to win with everyone. I don’t know how to react or not, I don’t know if I will play a match or not,” he said.

The truth is that his farewell, whether he plays or not, will be important and will sometimes overshadow Davis’ competitive tension. One of Rafa’s great rivals and friends could even be seen in Malaga, Roger Federer. “I don’t know if he will come. He will try, but he has a very tight schedule,” Nadal commented on this subject.

The Davis Cup marked some of the most special moments in the career of Nadal, champion of the 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2019 editions. As a farewell, Rafa faces the opportunity to win the tournament for the sixth times: “The feeling. Playing with your country is something incredible. 90% of my career I have been with Ferrer, Moyá, now Carlos Alcaraz… I have been participating in this Davis Cup for 20 years with different relationships but we will try to make things easy for the rest, to enjoy and overcome the bad times, because here we can help each other in a team within. of a generally individual sport.”

In Carpena, scene of the Davis final, a large banner has been hanging for days saying “Thank you, Rafa.”. And Nadal assesses with great joy the scenario that will surround his farewell: “I have the possibility of retiring in my country. I love living here in Spain and it is something that really makes me happy. The team was already in Valencia to enter “Word from a sports legend.