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MADRID (Reuters): Spain’s talisman Rafael Nadal sealed a sixth Davis Cup title for his country on Sunday when they beat Canada 2-0 in the final of the revamped event.
After a week of relentless tension and late-night heroics it was perhaps asking too much for the first final in the Davis Cup’s new guise to deliver a classic and so it proved as Spain became the last nation standing of the 18 who assembled in Madrid.
With Spain’s King Felipe watching on, the 33-year-old Nadal fought off Canadian youngster Denis Shapovalov 6-3 7-6(7) to give Spain their first title since 2011. If any player deserved to get his hands on the famous old trophy again it was Nadal after he worked overtime all week, often into the small hours, to win all eight matches he played.
But he surely would have been happy had it been team mate Roberto Bautista Agut to have delivered the winning point.
Bautista Agut had given the hosts a flying start, beating Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6(3) 6-2 after returning to the squad following the death of his father.
“An amazing week in every way,” said Nadal, who has now won 29 successive Davis Cup singles matches since 2004. “The vital person has been Roberto Bautista.”
After beating Auger-Aliassime, Bautista Agut was embraced by his captain Sergi Bruguera and there were emotional scenes at the end as roars of “Campiones” echoed around the arena.
“It was a dream day and all the team members have made an incredible effort, especially Rafa, going to sleep at three, four and five in the morning and the next day going out to play,” Bautista Agut said. “It can only be because we are Spanish.”
For Gerard Pique, the Barcelona soccer player who has made revamping the Davis Cup into a tennis World Cup his mission, it was the perfect climax to a week in which the new format suffered glitches but could be judged a qualified success.
