Spain is emerging as the rival to beat in the 2021 Davis Cup finals, since she is the defender of the title after conquering the Salad Bowl in the 2019 edition, the last one that has been held to date.
Nevertheless The Spanish team faces this edition with significant casualties after the setbacks of recent days: first with the injury of Roberto Bautista and, a few days later, with the positive of Carlos Alcaraz for coronavirus. Although if there is a loss that stands out above all in the Spanish team in the Davis Cup that is, without a doubt, that of Rafa Nadal.
Why does Rafa Nadal not play the Davis Cup 2021?
The loss of Rafa Nadal in the Davis Cup finals was already known since last August 20, when the Balearic tennis player announced that he would not play for the rest of the season. The reason for this advertisement is a foot injury known as Müller-Weiss syndrome.
Nadal has dragged these foot discomfort for much of the season although he decided to make the decision to stop after falling in the semifinals of Roland Garros against Novak Djokovic, thus giving up competing at Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics.
After testing himself on the slopes at the Washington tournament, Nadal resigned from playing the 1,000 Masters in Canada before confirming his farewell to the remainder of the season. The Spaniard is already in the final stretch of his recovery and is expected to compete again in December in an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi to prepare for the 2022 season.
Nadal, the lord of Davis
Rafa Nadal is a key piece in the history of Spain in the Davis Cup. The Balearic has participated in five of the six Salad Bowls conquered by Spain to date: 2000, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2019.
In addition, Nadal’s figures are a whole life insurance for Spain when it comes to facing the qualifying rounds of Davis Cup as Nadal accumulates a balance of 37-5 in their matches played in the tournament. A figure that improves even more if possible if we talk only about individual matches, where Nadal has an incredible record of 29 wins from just one loss, back in 2004 against Czech Jiri Novak.
In fact, Nadal maintains the longest winning streak among active Davis Cup tennis players with his 29 victories and is the historical leader in this winning streak if the doubles and singles matches are added with 32 consecutive victories. In other words: Nadal has not lost a Davis Cup match since 2005, when, forming a couple with Feliciano López, he fell to the Italian duo of Daniele Bracciali and Giorgio Galimberti in the doubles match of the tie between Spain and Italy, where Spain won 2-3. The loss of Nadal is a major setback for a Spain that hopes to get another Salad Bowl, in this case for Nadal.
