“Closing the loop“: twenty years after winning his first Davis Cup with Spain in Seville, Rafael Nadal chose Malaga, where the final phase of the national team competition begins on Tuesday, to end his career.
“It’s coming full circle, as one of my first great joys as a professional player was the Seville final in 2004.“, estimated “Rafa” in the video announcing the end of his career, broadcast in October on social networks.
“I’ve been competing in this competition for 20 years, I’ve known many different generations“, the clay court master testified Monday at a press conference. “The key to success for our country is that we have always had close relations” between the players lined up in the Davis Cup.
“It helps to feel like when you win, everyone wins and when you lose, everyone loses.“, he added.
December 3, 2004. Nadal51st in the world at 18, can hardly believe that he was preferred to his glorious elders Juan Carlos Ferrero et Tommy Robredo to face the American Andy Roddick in the Davis Cup final.
“When Rafa came to see me to tell me that he was ready to give up his place against Roddick to one of his two teammates, I told him no, that it was a decision of the captains and that in any case, he had all my confidence“, says his then teammate and future coach Carlos Moya in a biography of the left-handed Manacor published in 2011.
As elegant towards his teammates as he is ruthless towards his opponents, the young Nadal defeated the winner of the 2003 US Open in four sets and 3h38 and offered a second point to Spain, which would win its second Silver Salad Bowl on December 5 .
“He is so good“, marvels the handsome Roddick about the Spaniard after his defeat.
“He’s a big match player, it’s a quality that you either have or don’t have and it doesn’t depend on age.“, greets the American. “It’s no secret that he has a bright future“, he urges.
Different from our routine
“There have been several key matches in my life. This one is surely one“, Nadal then identifies, without imagining that he would collect 22 Grand Slam trophies in the two decades to follow. “The Davis Cup has always been a dream for me“.
“Everyone knows how much I love my country, I am happy to live in Spain and play my last competition there“, he insisted on Monday.
“I can never thank the people in Spain enough for the support I received and the love I felt from the media, the spectators, the children“, continued Nadal, youngest winner of the Davis Cup in 2004, at 18 years and 187 days.
On the day of the first Sevillian coronation, the Cartuja stadium hosted 27,000 spectators, the largest crowd gathered for a tennis match at the time.
Nadal’s first contact with the Davis Cup dates back even earlier, to 2000, when he was chosen to carry his country’s flag, at the age of 14, in the final between Spain and Australia in Barcelona.
After the inaugural title in 2004, the Majorcan won three other Silver Saladiers: in 2009 (in Barcelona), 2011 (again in Seville) and 2019 (in Madrid).
“Share the good times and the bad times“as a team in the Davis Cup,”it’s something different from our routine on the circuit“, where tennis is summed up”to a very individual sport“, analyzed Nadal on Monday.
Here he is back on his land, after five years of absence – in a competition with a format that has been completely turned upside down since then – to write the final word. But with several hands.
