Rafael Nadal played his final match of professional tennis on Tuesday. At the 2024 Davis Cup, Nadal was beaten by Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-4. The Netherlands reached the semifinals against Germany on Friday when van de Zandschulp teamed up with Wesley Koolhof to beat the Spanish duo of Carlos Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers 7-6, 7-6. Koolhof and van de Zandschulp beat Alcaraz and Granollers 7-4 in the first set tiebreak and 7-3 in the second set tiebreak.
In van de Zandschulp’s win over Nadal, van de Zandschulp had eight aces compared to only two for Nadal. Van de Zandschulp also broke Nadal three times in six opportunities.
This was the first time in three meetings that van de Zandschulp beat Nadal. Their first two meetings came in 2022. Nadal won 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in the third round of the French Open, and then 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 in the fourth round of Wimbledon.
Nadal retires as one of the greatest tennis players of all-time, and the greatest player ever on clay. He won a record 14 French Open titles and 22 grand slam titles overall. Nadal also won 92 career titles, the fifth most of all-time. The only four players with more titles are Jimmy Connors of the United States (109), Roger Federer of Switzerland (103), Novak Djokovic of Serbia (99), and Ivan Lendl of the Czech Republic (94).
The Netherlands will face Germany in the semifinals of the 2024 Davis Cup because Germany beat Canada two matches to none on Wednesday. Canada and Germany were both missing their top players as Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime did not make the trip to Spain. In the other quarterfinals on Thursday, the United States is facing Australia, and Italy is facing Argentina.
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