Confirmed. Rafa Nadal will appear this Tuesday at the court in which Spain begins its participation in the Davis Cup Finalsdisputed in Malaga. The Balearic tennis player faces his last week as a professional tennis player and is ready to say goodbye to the game, being chosen by the Spanish team to face the first individual match of the qualifying round against Country Low.
Nadal, after the decision taken this Monday evening by the captain David Ferrerthe Dutch will be measured Botic van de Zandschulp. The match will be played from 5:00 p.m. this Tuesday, at the pavilion. Martine Carpenawill kick off the quarter-finals.
Carlos Alcarazthe leader of the Spanish team, will act as such and appear on the field in the second individual match of the match against the Netherlands.
Nadal and Alcaraz carried out the last training together this Monday before the start of the Davis Cup in Malaga under the watchful eye of the media and the Spaniard’s family, who demonstrated for almost an hour that he arrives in good form for his last competition as a professional tennis player.
At 5:05 p.m., five minutes later than expected, Nadal and Alcaraz jumped onto the Martín Carpena court. The Balearic with a white sleeveless shirt and red pants and the Murcian with another gray shirt, also sleeveless, and white pants.
The two tennis players were the only ones not wearing the red Spanish jersey that their coaches wore on the court. Carlos Moya And Juan Carlos Ferreroand Davis’ Spanish captain, David Ferrer, all very attentive to the progress of their students in training. Nadal tested himself on the Malaga court with Carlos Alcaraz after having already done so with the Canadian Alex de Minaur.
Twenty-four hours before Spain’s start against the Netherlands, Nadal and Alcaraz warmed up together for about half an hour and later, in the next thirty minutes, they played an eight-game mini-match which ended in a draw, four for each. .
Hours earlier, during a press conference, Nadal showed his ambition to play in the Davis Cup final and said that he did not go to Malaga with the Spanish team to retire, but to try to help the team win the Salad Bowl.
“I’m not here to retire, I’m here to help the team win. Over the last two and a half months I’ve tried to work as much as possible,” Manacorí said at a press conference. after training since last Friday, high intensity will be available for the Spanish team.
He acknowledged that it is “difficult to reach the level of consistency and performance” after having competed little this year and stressed that he does not know how he can react if he “plays a game” because he has very little played on the circuit. for “months”, he has therefore been preparing “as much as possible to arrive as well prepared as possible”.
Nadal left a reflection on the decision to give up professional sport: “I didn’t end up getting burned out by tennis like other people. If I could, I would continue playing tennis, but I didn’t not the opportunity to play at a higher level that rewards me on a personal level.
“I had made the decision to retire some time ago, but I wanted to give myself this opportunity because I like to be sure that what I am doing is what I want to do and not wondering what is going on. would have passed. I wanted to have peace of mind that I made this effort,” he stressed.
