Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez fought off a brave challenge from the Indian duo of Leander Paes and Saketh Myneni in the doubles rubber to hand Spain an unassailable 3-0 lead in their Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie in New Delhi on Saturday.
The Indians troubled the gold medal winners at last month’s Rio Olympics throughout the contest before going down 6-4, 6-7, 4-6, 4-6 in three hours and 23 minutes.
After the match, Rafa said:
For us it was a very important confrontation after two years being away from the World Group. It’s important for us to come back to where we think we have to be.
But the India team is a great team and I want to say many thanks to all the fans here in India. For me it is a very special country and it is a place that is very close to my heart.
Sources: Davis Cup, IANS
The draw for the 2017 Davis Cup World Group has Croatia hosting Spain. The first round is scheduled for Feb 3-5, 2017. I hope Rafa will participate.
This site has rafa 2016 schedule in menu
His next tournament is bejing
@RafaelNadalFans a third fan had inquired about Rafa’s next tournament. Please let us know. Thanks
I’m SO glad Rafa and Marc won the doubles. Does anyone know when Rafa will next play?
Does anyone know if Beijing is Rafa’s next tournament? I thought maybe he will add another tournament to his schedule to get additional points for Race for London.
I too have been looking for an updated schedule. I have Beijing, Shanghai, and Basel of the more popular tournaments. Between now and the Race to London, there are a total of about 12 more ATP scheduled tournaments. Rafa is now number eight so I hope he doesn’t lose his spot.
Nadal clarified that it was indeed a stomach bug that forced him to skip the opening singles match against Ramkumar Ramanathan on Friday.
“It was not the wrist. Everybody knows my situation I have always been honest about it. My wrist is improving but it still bothers me a little bit. But I am happy with the progress. There is a lot of humidity here and after practice, I had lunch at hotel and I felt I was not feeling perfect to go on court. Feli (Feliciano Lopez) was in perfect condition to go to court so he played,” said Nadal.
Rafa has a 75% win loss rate this season so far. His 2015 w-l rate was 75% and some here thought his post us open results last year were”impressive” (won zero tournaments). Rafa needs to be more than impressive if he wants this season, during which many here concluded “he is back”, not to end up as his worst since 2003.
“75% win loss rate?” Shouldn’t there be two numbers, one for win, and one for loss?
No margo, when speaking about win loss rate, this is how it is done in tennis jargon. But you have no clue about the game, so you have no idea. The reply tells the tale.
2016 season is not over and he also won master 1000 this year
apart from win loss rate (who cares) rafa nerves problem which he had in 2015 is not there in 2016
and i personally feel this year if rafa get to atp WTF he has best chances to win it
It was so excited.I’m very happy the result.
The doubles was the most important match as Leander Paes is a superb doubles player. That is why Rafael was kept for the doubles. Mentioning wrist and stomach upset was a little bad form if neither true. The Indian fans love Rafael and the mutual respect between him and Leander Paes was so sporting. Great to see Spain back in the World Group. Well done Team Spain and Manager Conchita
OLA dear Rafa !!!! : ) Congratulations to Marc & Spain & VAMOS Daveed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) GO……GO……GO…….. The Indian crowd is awesome and nice …..and it is lovely they are getting to cheer some great winners by their young Indian players today !!!!!! : ) : ) : ) : )
Ola dear Rafa!!!!!!! : ) Can see you sitting watching Marc singles….. enjoy your day sweetheart & best wishes Marc who is leading 3:1 1st set !!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) VAMOS!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) You are Spain top, greatest and most beloved player and it is nice to see you helping & supporting the team!!!!!!!!!!! : ) We are so happy you played doubles yesterday and were mighty proud of all your hard fought efforts and beautiful tennis!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) God bless you sweetheart !!!!!!!!! : ) Lots of love & happiness & have a nice time and enjoy it all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) VAMOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) VAMOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) VAMOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : )
Spain won no matter what the circumstances The captain knew what she was doing they already had strong singles players and it maybe they decided to keep Rafa and Marc for the doubles it makes sense However I am so pleased Spain has won and Rafa was in the winning team
WELL DONE SPAIN WELL DONE RAFA. BUT TAKE CARE !!!!
What Feliciano told ESPN India on Sept. 16 (according to tennis.as.com):
“We knew during the week that possibly it would be me who would play. Nadal has been struggling with a wrist injury (the left for which he pulled out of Roland Garros) during the last three months and did not want to take a risk, which he spoke about to the captain. Up until Thursday night I did not know that he would not play. His wrist is getting better, but the pain continues. We are sure he will play during the weekend.”
Rafa was scheduled to play today, but his match has been canceled from Scoreboard.
watched the match and what is seen how rafa was playing i think he has no wrist issues
great thing was what was missing from rafa from his play i.e. his power swing oh his hands while hitting cross court forehand was back
although rafa missed some forehands in early parts of match but later it was privilege to watch his forehands as always
vamos rafa
i hope u play singles as well on sunday
Unfortunately I had to sit through GBR and ARG,match, nice to see Del Potro back again ,but I really hoped to see Spain,s tie with India . Anyway it was great for the boys especially Rafa who had a stomach upset,Hope you are all better now , Will see you in Brisbane in January2017 my Darling Laddie VAMOS RAFA
Rafa and Marc I didn’t see the match but it sounds as though it was a gutsy game.
Much credit to you both.
What is your next tournament, ALl the best for that.
Love and prayers,
AlaineXXSydneyXXAustraliaXX
I could not get the match on TV, but I followed a game by game summary in an Indian paper. They said Rafa and Marc were rusty in the first set, but raised their level. They described the match as very hard fought, but that Rafa provided many of the key points. I have no idea if Rafa had a Dehli belly or a sore wrist. It was very confusing. The press did not notice either when he was playing. I hope it was minor whatever it was. The fans were thrilled to see Rafa play even though they cheered their own team, of course. It is great for Spain to be in the World Group again.
Thanks so much for a great commentary. Sweet of youvto share with Rafa’s fans.
We will soon know if his wrist is the problem when he plays in his next tournament.
In the meantime regardless of what prevented him playing on Friday he won the doubles with Marc in a nail biting 3 hr 20 minutes match and it seems that Rafa’s play improved over that period, not deteriorated. If it was the wrist I would have thought he would have got worse over such a lengthy match.
In any case time will tell and we will just have to hope for the best.
OLA & VAMOS DEAR RAFA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) Congratulations on your fantastic victory!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) It was an unbelievable match & your feisty determination and powerful returns are always AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) VAMOS SWEETHEART & ENJOY EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) Lots of love & happiness and have a great time celebrating your beautiful tennis !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) : ) : ) : ) VAMOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : )
Congrats Rafa <3
Yet another mention of Rafa’s current wrist saga:
The Indian Express
September 18, 2016 “Nadal missed Friday’s singles due to persistent wrist injury.”
Sources on Twitter say that Rafa denies both, wrist and stomach. So I keep 🤐.
LOL That only leads to a question, Is there a third explanation for Friday?
RAFA AND MARC ROCK INDIA
Some posts I read said that they always wanted Rafa to play doubles since that was going to be the toughest match. The Spanish team was so strong that I don’t see why they needed to play games, if they did. There were so many fans lining up to see Rafa on Friday who were disappointed. Maybe we will find out the entire story soon.
Vamos mi Rafa querido