Rafael Nadal drops some news about the Davis Cup that might make tennis fans sad
By Lee Vowell
Rafael Nadal has already announced that his career will be coming to a close near the end of this year. The 22-time Grand Slam champion has not been consistently physically able to perform at a high level for two years. He is not getting younger. Announcing his retirement made sense.
As part of the announcement, the Spaniard said that the Davis Cup in late November will be his final event. Now, though, there is a question as to whether Nadal will actually play. At the Six Kings Slam exhibition, which Nadal did participate in but was easily swept aside in the second round by Carlos Alcaraz 6-3 6-3, Nadal hinted he would be at the Davis Cup finals but might not play in singles.
The reason is that he doesn't want to misrepresent Spain if he is not near fully healthy and, therefore, cannot play near his best. He doesn't simply want to play to play, he wants to do Spain justice by giving the country a chance to win the tournament.
There is a chance that Rafael Nadal does not play at the Davis Cup
He told the media, "Emotionally, I'm sure I'll be ready. Physically and in terms of tennis level, there remains a month left to prepare. I will try to be in good shape to help the team to win. If I don't feel ready for the singles, I'll be the first one to say. Be 100 percent sure, I will not be on court if I don't feel ready to win my match."
Next. Coco Gauff and Matt Daly seem like a perfect match. Coco Gauff and Matt Daly seem like a perfect match. dark
This does not mean that Nadal won't play at all. He could play doubles with Alcaraz. That would make for a moment where symbolically, Nadal would be handing the baton of being the face of Spanish tennis fully over to the 21-year-old Alcaraz. Plus, a doubles partnership between Nadal and Alcaraz would be a difficult pair to defeat.
If Nadal does not feel healthy enough to play in singles and doubles, though, then his last event would be the Six Kings Slam. His last ATP-related event would have been at the Olympics in July where he lost in straight sets to Novak Djokovic in the second round. Let's hope that he feels well enough to participate at the Davis Cup so tennis fans can get a proper goodbye.
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