Spain captured its sixth Davis Cup title–its first, of course, in the new format–by defeating Canada 2-0 in the final on Sunday afternoon in Madrid. Following a smorgasbord of drama earlier in the week, the host nation triumphed in mostly straightforward fashion by sweeping the two singles matches.
Roberto Bautista Agut opened with a 7-6(3), 6-3 victory over Felix Auger-Aliassime before Rafael Nadal delivered the clincher by beating Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 7-6(7).
In truth, however, nothing about the first-ever “Davis Cup Finals” was straightforward for Nadal and Bautista Agut. The world No. 1 played eight matches and won all of them–singles and doubles–throughout round-robin play and the knockout stages inside the Caja Magica. Bautista Agut’s father passed away just a few days ago and he briefly left the team before returning to play the final–made necessary due to physical problems sustained by Pablo Carreno Busta, Feliciano Lopez, and Marcel Granollers.
Nadal highlights throughout the week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjDXnsLbMx4
“It’s been an amazing week,” Nadal assured. “A lot of things we’ve been through–the father of Roberto passed away; Marcel yesterday stayed stiff in his low back and couldn’t move; Pablo got injured in singles. “I could not be happier. An unforgettable moment here in this amazing stadium. The crowd was just a joke–we can’t thank enough all of them.”
Spain probably needed the crowd, too, in order to fend off elimination in the quarterfinals and semis. It went to deciding doubles matches against both Argentina and Great Britain after Nadal kept his country alive on each occasion by winning the second singles rubber. Nadal and Lopez even required two tiebreakers to scrape past the British duo of Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski on Saturday.
Canada also survived a wild ride en route to championship Sunday. With Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil playing both singles and doubles, the Canadians beat Australia 2-1 in the quarters and Russia 2-1 in the semis–the latter in a doubles third-set tiebreaker.
“I feel like we’ve really come really far as a team, as a nation,” Shapovalov reflected. “Definitely we’re super proud…. I’m super proud of everyone, everyone sitting here, super proud of the people in the background. We’ve put in 120 per cent every single day.”
But regardless of effort level, nobody was going to beat Nadal this week; not Canada and not anyone else.
“Rafa, he’s out of this world,” Spanish captain Sergi Bruguera commented. “I don’t know if he’s an alien or what. We’ve been through (a lot) this week; not one day we went to sleep before 3:00 a.m., and one day when he didn’t get to sleep until 5:10 a.m. and he was playing singles and doubles again the next day. What can you say? Unbelievable.
“And can you imagine Roberto yesterday was at the funeral of his father and now here giving everything–the mentality, the concentration, the spirit, everything for the team. I have no idea how to describe this in words. There are so many feelings, so many emotions you’ve never felt, and it’s difficult to explain them.”
congrats, Spain