Nadal Will Play Singles In Davis Cup Play This Weekend

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 12th September 2013

Nadal Will Play Singles In Davis Cup Play This Weekend

epa03863276 Spanish Davis Cup Team player Rafael Nadal returns a ball during the team's training session held at Caja Magica pavilion, Madrid, Spain, 11 September 2013. Spain will face Ukrania in the Davis Cup World Group Play-off round this weekend. EPA/JuanJo Martin |

Although Rafael Nadal admits he is tired and weary after an exemplary and unbeaten North American summer that culminated in Monday evening’s US Open title win, he is happy to be pitched into the opening day singles as he makes his Davis Cup return for Spain in the World Group play-off against the Ukraine in Madrid.

Nadal will be returning to the Caja Magica, where he won the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 series event in May, and faces the Ukraine’s no.2 Sergiy Stakhovsky while Fernando Verdasco has been preferred to US Open quarterfinalist Tommy Robredo by captain Alex Corretja for the lead-off rubber against Alexandr Dolgopolov.

After flying across the Atlantic in a privately chartered jet after his New York victory, Nadal has practiced only lightly ahead of his first match in the Davis Cup since helping Spain win the title with a characteristically heroic performance against Argentina in Seville in late 2011.

“I have had a change of time zone after two weeks of playing at high intensity and the big thing was for me to keep on moving and to try and get the right feeling back,” he said.

Nadal admits he is in fine form, but tired after the demands of three consecutive triumphs in the US Open, Cincinnati and Montreal.

“After winning three consecutive tournaments, it’s impossible to have better feelings, but it is not a lot of time coming after a big effort,” he said. “However, I am willing to do everything possible to help the team. I am here and that means I am here to try and play.”

Nevertheless Nadal admits he is currently running on fumes and before leaving New York admitted he will not be able to maintain his current form for much longer.

“You just can’t keep this up in moments that are complicated and keep winning and winning, because no one can resist this,” he said.

“It’s logical, but that doesn’t mean you lose the motivation to keep fighting and to keep doing what I’ve always been passionate about: competing and competing at the highest level. I’ll try to keep on the same path. Things are surely not going to go as well as this, but I hope to be here for many years.”

Topics: 10sballs, Atp World Tour, Davis Cup, Rafael Nadal, Sports, Tennis, US Open

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yvessimonsevy says:

September 12, 2013 at 7:57 am

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