A presentation celebrating Rafael Nadal’s legacy will be held during this year’s Davis Cup Finals, where he will play the last match of his career.
Details about the event are being kept secret but tournament director Feliciano Lopez has confirmed that plans are currently underway. The 22-time Grand Slam champion will be ending his career at the team event which will be held in the Spanish city of Malaga. It will be the first time Nadal has played a competitive match since the Paris Olympics.
“It’s confidential of course, but we’re planning to do something very special for him, we have to celebrate his career and his legacy,” the AFP news agency quoted Lopez as saying.
“There’s a lot of things that we’re planning but for now I cannot share any more details with you, but we’re planning something very special. We are going to try and live up to his legacy and his enormous career.”
Spain will start their Davis Cup campaign on November 19th against the Netherlands. Team captain David Ferrer has yet to confirm which of his players will be playing what matches. Carlos Alcaraz and Pablo Carreno Busta are also included in the team.
Lopez says he expects a packed crowd to attend Nadal’s farewell tournament which will also include some of those who have played against him in the past on the Tour.
“I know that almost everyone in the world wants to be present for his farewell… Novak Djokovic posted on Instagram that he wants to be there, also Andy Murray wants to be there,” he said.
“I don’t know if we’re going to have seats for everyone, but as you can imagine all the tennis players that played in his time, they want to be there, (and) other athletes from different sports.”
This year is the 20th anniversary of the first time Nadal played in a Davis Cup Final. In 2004 he defeated Andy Roddick during Spain’s 3-2 win over America when the competition was held in its old format. He has also played in the final in 2009, 2011 and 2019.
“I have a lot of confidence in Rafa because I’ve spent my entire career with him and I know he’s honest about whether he sees himself capable of competing or not. My idea after talking to him is that he’s ready to play,” Spanish captain Ferrer said during an interview with Marca.
Nadal has played 42 Davis Cup matches so far in his career and has won 37 of them.
