BERLIN — Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz were named to Spain’s roster for the Davis Cup Finals, raising the possibility of a renewal of their “Nadalcaraz” doubles partnership from the Paris Olympics.
Nadal, a 22-time Grand Slam champion who is 38, hasn’t competed anywhere since the Paris Games, where he lost in the second round of singles to longtime rival Novak Djokovic and paired with Alcaraz to get to the quarter-finals of men’s doubles before exiting against Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.
Nadal then withdrew from the US Open and the Laver Cup while still dealing with health issues that have limited him to competing only sparingly over the past two seasons.
Alcaraz earned the men´s singles titles at the French Open in June and Wimbledon in July to raise his career total to four at the age of 21.
Spain will take on the Netherlands in the quarter-final round of the Davis Cup Finals, an eight-team event Nov. 19-24 in Malaga, Spain, AP reported.
The other opening matchups are: defending champion Italy vs. Argentina; the United States vs. Australia; and Germany vs. Canada.
Italy will be led by No. 1-ranked Jannik Sinner, who won the Australian Open in January and the US Open this month. The Italian roster also includes Lorenzo Musetti, a semifinalist at Wimbledon and bronze medalist at the Olympics.
The US roster features Taylor Fritz, the runner-up to Sinner at Flushing Meadows, along with past major semi-finallists Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton, plus doubles specialists Krajicek and Ram.
The Italy-Argentina winner will face the US-Australia winner in the semifinals, with the winners of Germany-Canada and Netherlands-Spain meeting in the other semifinal.
Italy won its first Davis Cup title since 1976 a year ago in Malaga.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz overcame Taylor Fritz 6-2, 7-5 as Team Europe rallied to beat Team World 13-11 and win the Laver Cup.
“That means I’m a pretty good actor,” Alcaraz said after teammate Grigor Dimitrov felt the Spaniard showed little tension on court.
“I was nervous, I’m not going to lie. After Sascha’s match, he did a really good job. It was time for me to do my job. I had to win. After that comeback, I had to win.
“I had nerves; I was a little bit nervous. I tried not to show Taylor that I was nervous, but I think I played one of my best matches so far. Tried to be as match-calm as I can and hit it as good as I can.”
Alcaraz was making his Laver Cup debut and revealed that he felt a different kind of pressure during the team event to what he is used to when he competes for trophies alone on Tour.
“It was a different feeling. Obviously having them [Team Europe] supporting me behind me, it is different,” said 15-time tour-level titlist Alcaraz.
“They try to just stay there and show me good energy all the time that makes me feel really comfortable on court and trying to pull out all the nerves and play good tennis.”
Alcaraz broke the US Open runner-up Fritz in the 11th game and then closed out victory on serve, sparking celebrations as the Europe team rejoiced with captain Björn Borg in Berlin.
Team World was favourite to win the Laver Cup for a third straight time after leading 8-4 on points heading into the last of the three days.
Captain Borg was leading Team Europe for the seventh and final time, with Yannick Noah set to replace the Swede next year. Borg led Team Europe to Laver Cup glory in five of the seven editions he captained and is pleased with how this year’s event went.
“A good team, good spirit. We have been having a good week together,” Borg said. “If we started this Sunday in the morning, I think we had problems, but all these guys came through. It’s unbelievable. I’m so happy. I’m very happy because it’s my last year Laver Cup, and for me to have this team, it’s beautiful.”
Europe began the comeback when Alcaraz and Casper Ruud won the doubles 6-2, 7-6 (6) against American pair Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe. But Shelton then downed Australian Open finalist Daniil Medvedev 6-7 (6), 7-5, 10-7 to move the World team into pole position.
Tiafoe, who reached the US Open semi-finals, could have sealed it for them but he lost to French Open finallist Alexander Zverev 6-7 (5), 7-5, 10-5, setting up the decider between Alcaraz and Fritz.
The Laver Cup is formatted like golf´s Ryder Cup with the first team to 13 points winning the contest. Each of the four matches was worth three points.
