At this point in his career, it is clear that the Davis Cup is far from being a priority for Rafael Nadal. At 36 years of age, the Mallorcan does not seem to have among his goals to represent his country again in the oldest national team tournament in the world.
A few days before the World Group qualifiers are held, Nadal was questioned about whether he intends to play the Davis Cup again, to which he replied: “We have Pablo (Carreño) and Roberto (Bautista), two top players.
Many countries would love to have those two players on their team, although it is a reality that without Carlos (Alcaraz) we have fewer options. In my case, since the beginning of the year I was never an option for the captain due to everything that had happened in the last few months.
If I represent my country, it is to do it with passion, confidence and spirit, as I did in 2019 in Madrid”, recalled the winner of 22 Grand Slams. “I don’t think this year I can be at that level of everything and the captain knows it.
I don’t know what will happen in the future, I’m getting old, even if I wanted to be everywhere I can’t. We’ll see if I play the Davis Cup again one day, I’m not sure, in my mind I would love to say goodbye playing in that beautiful competition, ”he added.
It should be noted that Nadal has already won many important tournaments representing his country. He was a gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and has been Davis champion five times (2004, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2019).
Rafa Nadal doesn’t want to give up
Andy Roddick believes that Novak Djokovic is in the best shape of his life and is currently ahead of Rafael Nadal in the pecking order. “His discipline. His body does not look like a typical body that’s at the end of the road.
You look at the flexibility, he hasn’t lost anything as far as movement and if anything he has only gotten better from 28 to 35,” Roddick said. “You won’t find a bigger Rafa fan than me but it looks different than it did five years ago.
He has to adjust the way he plays, he’s having to play higher risk and end points a little sooner which means we see a lot more peaks and valleys. He’s not able to run balls down like he was able without paying a physical bill. Novak still seems that he’s able to rely on his body a little more no matter which type of strategy,” he added.
