By Canadian Press

Rafael Nadal will play Davis Cup singles for Spain against the Netherlands ahead of retirement

Nov 19, 2024 | 8:35 AM

MALAGA, Spain (AP) — Rafael Nadal was picked to play singles for Spain against the Netherlands on Tuesday at the Davis Cup Final 8, the 22-time Grand Slam champion’s last event before he retires.

The lineups for both countries were announced about an hour before their quarterfinal was scheduled to begin on Day 1 of competition on an indoor hard court at the sold-out Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena in southern Spain.

The 38-year-old Nadal will face 80th-ranked Botic van de Zandschulp in the opening singles match, before No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain goes up against No. 40 Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands. Nadal has won 29 Davis Cup singles matches in a row — but he hasn’t played an official match anywhere in 3 1/2 months.

If the best-of-three-match series is tied at 1-all after singles, Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers will meet Van de Zandschulp and Wesley Koolhof in doubles Tuesday to determine which team advances to the semifinals.

“It’s amazing that it might be the last match that Nadal plays,” Dutch captain Paul Haarhuis said, “and we hope to give him a nice ‘Adios.’”

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All contests are best-of-three-sets at the Davis Cup, where the run-up to the start of action has largely been about memories of, and tributes to, Nadal — including a lengthy post on social media by his rival and friend Roger Federer.

Nadal and Alcaraz practiced together Tuesday morning.

At a pre-event news conference Monday, neither Spain’s captain, David Ferrer, nor Nadal would say whether he would play singles, doubles, both or neither against the Dutch.

“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,” Nadal said.

“I’m enjoying the week. I’m not putting too much attention to the retirement,” Nadal added. “It will be a big change in my life after this week.”

Nadal announced last month that he would end his career after the Davis Cup following two seasons of limited play because of various injuries, including having hip surgery in June 2023. He has participated in only 23 matches over the past two years, including going 12-7 in singles in 2024.

The match against van de Zandschulp — who upset Alcaraz at the U.S. Open — was going to be Nadal’s first outing that counted since early August at the Paris Olympics, where he lost in the second round of singles to Novak Djokovic and bowed out in the doubles quarterfinals alongside Alcaraz.

The Spain-Netherlands winner will play in the semifinals on Friday against Canada or Germany. The championship will be decided on Sunday.

Nadal is 29-1 in his Davis Cup singles career, a .967 winning percentage that is the highest for anyone who has played more than 15 matches. Way back in 2004, Nadal lost his Davis Cup debut to the Czech Republic’s Jiri Novak — and is unbeaten in singles since.

“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.”

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press