Rafael Nadal felt a hand on his left shoulder as he walked out of a conference room at a resort on Spain’s southern coast following his first question-and-answer session with reporters since announcing this week’s Davis Cup Final 8 will be his last event before retirement.
Nadal turned to see Carlos Alcaraz, his Spanish teammate and heir apparent, who wanted to whisper something. Nadal, 38, and Alcaraz, 21, might share a court one last time on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT), when Spain are scheduled to face the Netherlands in the quarterfinals on an indoor hard court at the Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena in Malaga.
Then again, maybe they won’t both: Neither Nadal nor Spain’s captain, David Ferrer, would say on Monday whether the 22-time grand slam champion will participate. What is clear is that Nadal’s career soon will be over.
What will he miss the most?
“Probably the feeling of competition, go on court and see the fans out there, the atmosphere when you play big matches,” Nadal said. “And at the end of the day, (it) is about the adrenaline that you feel before, at the end, and during the match.”
The Spain-Netherlands winner will play in the semi-finals on Friday against Canada or Germany with the final on Sunday.
In the other half of the draw Australia play United States in their quarter-final on Thursday.
“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 later,” said Nadal, wearing the squad’s red polo shirt with a tiny red-and-yellow Spanish flag on the left sleeve.
“I’m enjoying the week. I’m not putting too much attention to the retirement,” Nadal said. “It will be a big change in my life after this week.”
Nadal said it doesn’t “make sense to keep going, knowing that I don’t have the real chance to be competitive the way that I like to be competitive, because my body” won’t allow it.
Nadal is 29-1 in his Davis Cup singles career. Way back in 2004, Nadal lost his Davis Cup debut to the Czech Republic’s Jiri Novak — and he’s won all 29 matches since.
There will be two matches in singles and one in doubles in each match-up. Nadal could appear just in singles, just in doubles — perhaps alongside Alcaraz, his partner at the Paris Olympics — in both, or not at all.
“His last moments on court probably are going to be super special. Not (just) for me, but for everyone,” Alcaraz said. “It’s going to be an emotional day.”
Nadal has been dealing with a series of injuries the past two seasons and has been limited to only 23 official singles matches in that span, including a 12-7 record this year.
“I can hold for one more year,” he said. “But why? To say goodbye in every single tournament? I don’t have that ego to need that.”
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