Rafael Nadal’s love affair with the Davis Cup, from flagbearer to multiple champion
Two-time Olympic gold medallist Nadal is retiring from professional tennis exactly where he belongs: the Davis Cup Final 8 in his home country of Spain.
Tennis
Rafael Nadal was part of Spanish Davis Cup history even before becoming a professional tennis player.
Spain first won the Davis Cup in 2000 when they defeated Australia 3-1 on home soil at the Palau Sant Jordi, one of the venues for the Olympic Games Barcelona 1992.
As the Spanish quintet emerged for the opening ceremony of the final at the men's team event, they were accompanied by a 14-year-old boy from Mallorca hoisting the Spanish flag.
That boy went on to help Spain win its next five Davis Cup titles over a two-decade span.
Some 24 years on, as one of his nation’s greatest athletes and on the eve of his final soiree, Nadal will bow out on the stage and in the colours he has so adored.
Rafael Nadal and the Davis Cup: two decades on
“Everybody knows how much I love my country in general,” Nadal said in a press conference on Monday (18 November) ahead of Spain’s quarter-final tie against the Netherlands.
“I haven't been able to move from the country ever, so I enjoy living here. And [to] play my last event in Spain, it's something that I am very happy with.”
Spain were no strangers to producing top tennis players, but the arrival of Nadal marked a new era - and one defined by silverware.
The statement victory of Nadal’s Davis Cup career came on his competition debut in 2004, just four years after he was flagbearer, and again on home soil in Seville.
He took on then-world number two Andy Roddick in the second match of the final, a mammoth task for an 18-year-old against one of the best around.
Nadal lost the first set, yet from there on, there was no stopping him. He stormed back in four sets to defeat Roddick and set Spain on their way to the title.
An 18-year-old Rafael Nadal defeated world number two Andy Roddick in the 2004 Davis Cup final.
"The match against Roddick in the 2004 Davis Cup final is one of those that marked my career and that I will never be able to forget,” Nadal told tennis world in 2020.
“I think people remember my performance for the freshness and how young I was. I think I claimed victory because the crowd was there to support me; it was essential for me.”
Nadal's Davis Cup victory run
Nadal would guide Spain to the 2008 final, before having to withdraw from the showpiece event at the last minute due to injury. The Spanish team went on to win without the world number one by beating hosts Argentina.
Nonetheless, Nadal returned victorious the following year in 2009, where he won two points in Spain’s clean sweep of Czechia (then known as the Czech Republic) back at the Palau Sant Jordi, the same venue where the Mallorcan man first hoisted the flag as a teenaged boy.
As his rise to tennis dominance continued, so too did the triumphs for his beloved Spain.
Nadal was the man who won the decisive matches in the following two Davis Cup titles: In 2011 through a four-set thriller against Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro, and in 2019 against Denis Shapovalov of Canada in straight sets.
Ahead of the 2024 Davis Cup Final 8, Nadal has a remarkable record of 37 wins and just five defeats in Davis Cup play, with just one of those losses coming in a singles match.
He currently has four Davis Cup stars to his name. Can he make it five this week?
Rafa’s last dance in the Davis Cup
It is no surprise that the buzz in Málaga for the 2024 Davis Cup Final 8 is Rafa fever, not least because he gets to finish his career on home soil.
No one can doubt Nadal’s affection for Spain, choosing the ideal setting and location to close his chapter of what has been a legendary and one-of-a-king tennis career.
Twenty-four hours before he may step out onto the court for the last time, Nadal emerged for practice in white trainers marked by yellow and red accents in the colours of the Spanish flag.
His wife and young son were among a few hundred present for his practice session at the Palacio de Deportes José María Martín Carpena, where every pair of eyes will be on Nadal should he suit up on Tuesday (19 November) for the team's clash against the Netherlands.
It would have been just as poetic for him to say farewell to tennis at the French Open which he won 14 times, or at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, held on the same clay courts of Roland-Garros.
At the end of the day though, home is where Rafa's heart is.