Unless he extends his career and comes next year with the desire to improve his numbers in Paris, Rafa Nadal will leave as his main legacy in the history of tennis his prodigious figures Roland Garros: 112 victories, only four defeats and 14 titles, the bulk of his 22 Grand Slamstwo away from the record of Serbian Novak Djokovic (24).
If Roland Garros sums up the extraordinary individual career of the Balearic player, the Davis Cup He also draws his brilliant profile in teams, a competition in which the Balearic player also felt like a fish in water: 29 victories and only one defeat in his 30 individual matches and five ‘Salad bowls’ His achievements (2004, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2019) speak for themselves about that competitive gene in the most prestigious tennis tournament by country.
To put Rafa Nadal’s 29-1 record into perspective, Roger Federer (40-8) y Novak Djokovic (41-8) have more ‘human’ records in the Davis Cup. The Swiss (2014) and the Serbian (2010) only have one ‘Salad Bowl’ in their list of achievements.
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Curiously, Nadal’s only defeat in the Davis Cup came in his debut in the competition, when he was still 17 years old and lost against the Czech Use Novak (7-6, 6-3, 7-6) in the first round of the Davis Cup. He also lost the next day in doubles with Tommy Robredo, but Rafa closed out that tie on Sunday by beating Radek Stepanek to put the final score at 2-3.
That first appearance was the preview of Nadal’s first Davis Cup success, already in the final of that same year 2004, when he was the ace up the sleeve of the group of captains and got a fundamental point by winning Andy RoddickThat victory is considered by many to be Nadal’s international debut in the world of tennis.
Nadal’s history with the Davis Cup began in 2000, when he was already a great promise of tennis and was chosen as the standard-bearer of the Spanish team that won the title for the first time in the memorable final of the Palau Sant Jordi in BarcelonaWhat followed exceeded all previous expectations. His inclusion in the team for the Final 8 in Malaga next November is another chapter, who knows if, this time, the last.
The final fight for the ‘Salad Bowl’ of 2024
