Rafael Nadal was comprehensively defeated by Botic van de Zandschulp at the 2024 Davis Cup Finals, and the Spaniard does not expect to play singles again before his retirement.
After weeks of rampant speculation, Spanish captain David Ferrer chose Nadal to play in the singles ahead of teammate Roberto Bautista Agut, who recently won the European Open in Antwerp.
Despite the emotion surrounding Nadal's final professional appearance at the Davis Cup Finals, the 38-year-old insisted that he was focused on helping his country win the title and that Ferrer should pick the team most suited to making that happen.
However, it was always going to be hard for Ferrer not to pick Nadal since the legendary Spaniard would not have featured at all in his farewell tournament if the Netherlands had won both singles matches and taken an unassailable 2-0 lead. The final doubles match would not have been played in that case.
Unsurprisingly, Nadal received incredible crowd support from inside the arena in Malaga. Unfortunately, that was not enough to give him the victory he and millions of fans worldwide wanted to see.
Van de Zandschulp, who defeated Carlos Alcaraz at the US Open in August, has a calm and laid-back personality, which seemed to help the Dutchman handle the pressure of playing Nadal in front of a partisan crowd.
Although Nadal fought as hard as always, van de Zandschulp was the better player throughout the contest. He triumphed 6-4, 6-4 to give the Netherlands a 1-0 lead at the Davis Cup Finals.
That defeat piled pressure on Carlos Alcaraz, who knew Nadal would be officially retired if he lost against Tallon Griekspoor. But the four-time Grand Slam champion overcame a nervous start to triumph 7-6, 6-3 and keep Nadal's career alive.
If Team Spain wins the doubles match to reach the semifinal, Ferrer will have to decide whether to play Nadal in singles again. But the 14-time French Open champion stated after his loss that Bautista Agut playing might make more sense, despite accepting it was not his decision.
"If we win and make the semifinals, the easier way will probably be selecting Roberto Bautista to play in my place. But it’s not my decision."
Nadal admitted the defeat to van de Zandschulp felt like the last singles match of his legendary career, hinting that the former world No. 1 does not think his level was good enough to justify playing singles again at the Davis Cup Finals.
"I feel that this was my last professional singles match."
Although Nadal said whether he plays in the singles again is not his decision, the 22-time Grand Slam champion sounded definitive when he declared that he had lost his first and last Davis Cup match.
“I lost my first and my last Davis Cup singles match."
If what Nadal says turns out to be accurate, fans will hope to see him win at least one more match in doubles before the end of his legendary career. It would be a shame if one of the greatest players in tennis history ended with a loss.
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