Aurélie Sacchelli, Media365, published on Tuesday, November 19, 2024 at 7:21 p.m.
Rafael Nadal was beaten in straight sets (6-4, 6-4) by the Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp in the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup in Malaga. It remains to be seen whether we will see the Spaniard again on court… during the doubles in the evening or in the semi-final if La Roja comes out on top this Tuesday.
We will know in a few hours if this match was the very last of Rafael Nadal's immense career, but the fact remains that the Spaniard's first match in this Davis Cup quarter-final against the Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp s ended in defeat. Opposed to the world No. 80, to whom he had not lost a single set during his two previous confrontations, at Roland-Garros and at Wimbledon in 2022, the 36-year-old looked his age, and was beaten 6-4, 6-4 in 1 hour 50 minutes. Very moved when listening to the Spanish anthem, Rafael Nadal gave everything during this meeting, but he clearly did not have the weapons against the solid Dutchman, who defeated Carlos Alcaraz during the last US Open, who admitted having had difficulty entering the match due to this very special context. This is probably why he committed three double faults in a row (out of seven in total during the match) on his first service game. But “VDZ” came through and neither player had a break point until 4-4. During the ninth game, the Dutchman had two opportunities on Nadal's serve, and the second was the right one. He then managed to conclude on his serve (6-4).
A first defeat in twenty years!
The Malaga room, already air-conditioned by this first lost set, then completely cooled down when van de Zandschulp broke at the start of the second set. He then led 4-1 and Nadal perhaps thought he was going to find himself in the locker room a few minutes later. But in the absence of physicality, the man with 22 Grand Slam titles still has an enormous mentality, and managed to nibble points to get back to 4-3, by scoring some nice points and attempting serves and volleys. At 4-3 on his serve, the Dutchman found himself trailing 0-30, but he did not crack under the pressure and won this crucial game (5-3). At 5-4, he concluded this very special match to offer the first point of this quarter-final to the Netherlands. Rafael Nadal finished the match with 11 winners and 26 unforced errors (19 and 30 respectively for his opponent) for his first defeat in Davis Cup singles since his very first selection, against the Czech Republic of Jiri Novak in 2004! It is now up to Carlos Alcaraz to beat Tallon Griekspoor (40th, 5-1 for the Spaniard in the confrontations) to reset the counters to zero and allow Spain (with Nadal?) to play a decisive doubles and dream of the last four. Otherwise, it will be time to celebrate “Rafa” one last time, and the tears will definitely flow.
