It matters little that the Italian team, defending champions, will be led by Jannik Sinner, the world number 1, brilliant winner of the ATP Finals, also champion at the Australian Open and the US Open. Also in the background is Carlos Alcaraz, holder of four majors, including Roland Garros and Wimbledon this season, who has long captured the hearts of fans. Equally marginal seems, with all due respect to the eight countries that will fight for the Davis Cup until Sunday, the pure development of a competition that, truth be told, has not quite hit the mark since adopting the new format, which fails to prevent high-profile withdrawals every year, such as this time with Alexander Zverev, second in the rankings.
Since the winner of 22 Grand Slam titles decided that this would be the last tournament of his long professional career, much of the interest naturally lies in its main protagonist. It doesn't even matter if his presence on the court is not guaranteed, as he played his last individual match against Novak Djokovic on July 29, at the Paris Olympics, and two days later bid farewell in doubles alongside Alcaraz, with whom he shares a team for the first time in this competition, the Davis Cup, regardless of who wins, whether or not they have a greater influence on the outcome.
Nadal's farewell has given this edition of the tournament an extraordinary symbolic point, a load of emotion that transcends any other perspective. Roger Federer hastened his departure, almost without warning, at the Laver Cup on September 24, 2022, after 14 months without being able to play due to recurring problems in his right knee. He did so just after turning 41. His nemesis, his cordial yet relentless adversary, does it at 38, with only 19 matches played in the ending year, seven of them losses.
Unlike the Swiss, Nadal has been able to choose an official tournament, also a team event. Djokovic is not far behind, who will remain as the last active member of the holy trinity of this sport to succumb to the ravages of time. At 37, the Balkan, the most decorated of the three major figures who have led tennis for over three decades, still wants to grant himself one last journey, to measure his strength against the onslaught of the new generation. Absent by his own decision at the recent Masters tournament, he will seek to prolong his luck at the Australian Open, where he has 10 titles.
There is something inevitable in the moment and place chosen by Nadal. As his uncle Toni, who coached him from childhood until 2017, who honed his game and character, acknowledged in an interview with this newspaper, the left-hander believed that once again a new opportunity could arise, as he had done throughout a career littered with thorns, with moments that made it seem like there was no turning back. His patience, courage, and determination pushed him to keep trying, with successes as recent as the 2022 Australian Open title, after coming back from two sets down against Daniil Medvedev, and the Roland Garros title months later, defeating Casper Ruud. But time and the wear and tear of so many battles fought eventually led him to make the painful decision to stop practicing the profession he had pursued with unwavering passion.
In 2023, he could only play four matches. It was then, aware of the perennial difficulties, that he announced that this season could be his last. Surely he wanted to imagine it differently, still with the fuel to perform on the big stages, with Roland Garros, where he reigned for 14 years, as the promised land to leave his final mark. He arrived in Paris, after barely being able to warm up at the Conde de Godó and the Madrid Masters, but fate turned against him with a first-round match against Zverev. The Magic Box had given him the only official farewell to that date, once he announced that he would no longer play in the capital. Paris bid him farewell in an impromptu tribute, where he even left the door open for a possible return.
He returned to France to indulge in playing his last Olympic Games. Individual gold in Beijing 2008 and in doubles in Rio 2016, alongside Marc López, now a member of his team, he fell short of contending for medals. He leaves in the tournament where he was born, where he began to showcase all the virtues that set him apart. No active player can boast the records of Nadal in the Davis Cup. Five Ensaladeras, the first in 2004, at 18, the last to date in 2019, still in full swing. 29 wins in 30 singles matches played. Eight in his 12 doubles appearances.
While some great players were overwhelmed by the pressure of a tournament that entails an extra level of collective responsibility, he was one of those who knew how to capitalize on that commitment to reach his maximum potential, whatever the circumstances. Who knows if destiny, often capricious, has not reserved for him a competitive ending befitting the merits he has earned.