Málaga (Spain). Rafael Nadal began the final tournament of his farewell season with a quarterfinal loss against the Netherlands in the Davis Cup Finals here on Tuesday. 22time Grand Slam winner Nadal started Spain's campaign against the Netherlands with a 46, 46 defeat to Botik van de Zandschulp.
Van de Zandschulp hit eight aces to Nadal's two. Although he also committed seven double faults compared to Nadal's two, the Dutch star won 77 per cent of the points on first serve while the Spanish ace won 67 per cent of the points.
By winning this match, Botik van de Zandschulp gave the Netherlands a 10 lead in the quarterfinal match against Spain. Regardless of the significance of the occasion, the 29yearold dashed Nadal's hopes of ending his professional career with a sixth Davis Cup victory.
The burden of leading Spain into the event rests on the shoulders of current world No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz, who will aim to level the tie when he takes on Talon Greekspur in the second singles match of the rubber. If Alcaraz is successful, Wesley Koolhof, who is retiring from the sport at the end of the event, will pair with Van de Zandschulp in a rubber decider against Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers. The winner of this match will face Germany or Canada in the semifinals on Friday.
Alcaraz has said that he would like to win a Davis Cup title for Nadal, who is retiring from tennis.
Former world No. 1 Nadal has played only seven tournaments this year after battling injuries over the past few seasons. He last competed at the Paris Olympics, where he lost to Novak Djokovic in the second round. A 92time tourlevel champion who spent 209 weeks at No. 1 in the ATP rankings, Nadal has been one of the leading stars on the ATP Tour since turning professional in 2001. Her 22 Grand Slam titles include a record 14 crowns at Roland Garros.
She also has four US Open titles and has won both the Australian Open and Wimbledon twice. Nadal also won Olympic singles and doubles gold and helped lead Spain to five Davis Cup titles, most recently in 2019.
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Image Credit: KhasKhabar.