Barcelona, Nov 18: Rafael Nadal’s impending retirement will loom over the Davis Cup Final 8 from the moment it begins Tuesday in southern Spain.
If that weren’t already obvious, just glance at the banner measuring 28,000 square feet (2,600 square meters) â about half the size of a football field â that wraps around the soccer stadium across the street from the arena hosting the tennis.
The blue sign, visible from the highway leaving Malaga’s airport, is marked with large white letters that read, âGRACIAS, RAFA.â Between those two words is an image of Nadal toting a tennis racket in his left hand while wearing one of his trademark sleeveless shirts and his just-as-ever-present headband.
He is shown with his back to the world, walking away, symbolizing the 38-year-old Spaniard’s goodbye to the sport after a remarkable career.
âIt’s going to be very exciting for everyone,â said tournament director Feliciano Lopez, a former player who faced Nadal 14 times on tour as an opponent in singles and also was his Davis Cup teammate. âVery emotional, at the same time.â That sentiment likely applies to Nadal’s fans, other players, his family â his wife and their son have attended practice â and, quite understandably, the 22-time Grand Slam champion himself as Tuesday approaches. That’s when Spain faces the Netherlands on an indoor hard court at the Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena.
âIt’s amazing that it might be the last match that Nadal plays,â Dutch captain Paul Haarhuis said Sunday, âand we hope to give him a nice Adios.’â Nadal had hip surgery in June 2023 and missed nearly all of that season. He dealt with a new hip muscle problem this year and an abdominal injury, part of a long series of issues that contributed to his body feeling like what he described as âa jungleâ in May after losing in the first round of the French Open, the clay-court Slam he’s won a record 14 times.