‘No doubt’ over what role Rafael Nadal will take in two, three years after his retirement, claims former No 1
Former doubles world No 1 Rennae Stubbs has “no doubt” Rafael Nadal will take up a key position in Spanish tennis in the next two to three years.
Nadal retired from tennis after playing the last match of his staggering 23-year career at the 2024 Davis Cup Finals in Malaga last week.
The former world No 1 was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Botic van de Zandschulp in the first rubber of Spain’s surprise 2-1 quarter-final loss to the Netherlands.
Ahead of his final event, the legendary Mallorcan expressed his love for playing in the Davis Cup and representing his country.
“I mean, the feeling to play for your country, the feeling to play for your teammates, and if you have a good relationship with the team, something that happened I think 99% of the times of our careers, with David [Ferrer], with Carlos before, I mean Moya, and now with all this team, have been 20 years of playing this competition,” the 22-time major champion said.
“So I went through a lot of different generations. The big success in our country is we always had a familiar relationship, no? And that helps to have the feeling that at the end when you win, everybody wins. When you lose, everybody loses, no?
“Everybody knows how much I love my country in general. I haven’t been able to move from the country ever, so I enjoy living here. And play my last event in Spain, it’s something that I am very happy with, no?”
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Stubbs revealed she expects Nadal to become Spain’s Davis Cup captain in the coming years and also highlighted a difference she sees between the Spaniard and Roger Federer.
“What made me the happiest, the thing I got the most joy out of watching the doubles, because the guys lost 7-6, 7-6, was watching Rafa watching them,” she said on The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast.
“I have never seen a guy more pumped watching another team try and win a match. He was up and out of the stands, he was pointing his finger.
“There is no doubt in the next two or three years he will be the captain of the Spain Davis Cup team. He was yelling at David Ferrer. He was calling him over.
“He was going up, saying stuff to him, he was yelling at [Carlos] Alcaraz, pointing his finger, saying stuff to him. It was so great to watch. None of it was over the top, none of it was inappropriate.
“He was just so into it. He loves tennis. I know Roger [Federer] loves tennis, but I think Roger loved tennis and the whole thing about his fame and the people and he loved being loved.
“Rafa just loved to compete. The effort he put in in the singles match, he tried to ends of the earth in that match.”
Nadal, a five-time Davis Cup champion, retired with an incredible 29-2 singles record in the team competition, while he was also an impressive 8-4 in doubles rubbers.
