'Rafael Nadal was especially emotional', says former No.1

• Tennis News
• Rafael Nadal

After four days of training at the Martín Carpena in Málaga and just 48 hours before their debut in the Davis Cup by Rakuten Final 8, the Spanish team appeared at a press conference to talk about their feelings and their debut in the competition against Croatia.

It will be on Wednesday, starting at 4:00 p.m. (CET) and the contest is all or nothing, something that is downplayed “because the normal thing in tennis is crosses in which you risk everything, so we go day by day”, admitted captain Sergi Bruguera.

The absences of Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal are substantial, no one denies it, but the team is determined to show that there is more. "When you can't count on the one and two in the world, you lose strength, but luckily we have other players who can measure up", added Bruguera while the number one in Malaga, Pablo Carreño, considers that "it is true that Alcaraz and Nadal they are not, but we have a good team and we will do our best to win the title.

It's nice to be number one, but I'd rather be number three if Carlos and Rafa were there because we'd be stronger. Either way, I feel ready. Both me and Roberto have already played a lot of qualifiers and why can't we win again? However, there is something that worries the Spanish team.

The soccer team will make its debut in the Qatar World Cup this Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. (peninsular time), which means that the first game of the duel with Croatia, the 2021 finalist and the first in the ranking, will still be played.

by countries. “A Davis Cup is not experienced every day. We would all like to see the Spain match in Qatar. I'm sure people will come to cheer and the stadium will be full. We, in such a tough tie against Croatia, need all the support we can get”.

Rafa Nadal was moved

Courier reflected on that epic night on a recent episode of the Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast, also praising Federer for never shying away from expressing pure emotion on the court. "I was ready for it, I knew it was going to be significant.

I anticipated a lot of emotion from Roger, what I didn't anticipate was the emotion from everyone else on the court. I certainly expected the crowd to be emotional when Roger got emotional, because he is emotional. We've seen him cry when he wins, when he loses, he gives it, which is great," Jim Courier said.

He feels that Rafael Nadal, Djokovic, and Murray imagined how their own retirements would go down while experiencing their great rival's farewell ceremony. "What was unforeseen was the emotion coming from his peer group, especially Rafa, Novak, Andy, the core group there.

Rafa was especially emotional. That was really an amazing energy. I kind of appreciate that they were seeing their end in his end, in a way, it's kind of telling also," Courier expressed.