Nadal, Bautista Agut, Carreno Busta, Feliciano Lopez and Marcel Granollers to play the Davis Cup for Spain

Spain will host the Davis Cup finals next month. The city of Madrid will host the finals, which gives the Spanish team home advantage throughout the tournament. Fans will expect the team to be competitive, and they are among the favorites to lift the trophy. Spain’s team captain has named a strong squad for the 108^th edition of the tournament.

Spain and the Davis Cup

Rafael Nadal will lead the charge as the Spanish team seeks to win its sixth Davis Cup. The current world number got married to his fiancé Xisca Perello. The Spaniard has been out of action since the Laver Cup last month. He injured his wrist at the tournament but will play in the remaining tournaments this year, starting with the Paris Masters later this month. Joining Nadal on Team Spain are Roberto Bautista, Pablo Carreno, Feliciano Lopez, and Marcel Granollers. Team captain, Sergi Bruguera, has named the team and will hope that Nadal is healthy by the time the tournament begins on 18^th November.

Verdasco left out

However, not everyone was pleased with Bruguera’s selection for the Davis Cup. Spaniard Fernando Verdasco took to Twitter to express his disappointment for missing out on the team. The world number 40 was looking forward to playing for his country in his hometown of Madrid. The 35-year-old blasted Bruguera for not including him in the team. In the post, Verdasco said, “Very sad and disappointed not to be in the team of and that the captain Sergi doesn’t count on me. I was very excited to possibly play my last Davis Cup in my city.” He ended the post by thanking his fans for believing in him despite his absence on the team.

Team Spain will play in Group B against Croatia and Russia. The group is one of the toughest in the finals and will have some interesting matchups. Croatia is the defending champion, while Russia has an exciting core of players led by Daniil Medvedev and Karen Khachanov. Nadal and Medvedev could face off during the group stage in a rematch of this year’s US Open final. Nadal won the match, which lasted for close to five hours. Spain’s last victory in the Davis Cup was in 2011 when they defeated Argentina in the final. Nadal secured the victory with a thrilling win in the final over Juan Martin del Potro.

Rafael Nadal’s ranking and performance in 2019

Ranked no.2, Nadal played his last match on the 8^th of September when he beat Daniil Medvedev 7-5 6-3 5-7 4-6 6-4 in the final in U.S. Open to win his 84^th career title.

This year Nadal has a 47-6 win-loss record. Nadal clinched 4 titles in 2019 in Rome, at the French Open, in Montreal and at the U.S. Open. The Spaniard was the finalist at the Australian Open.

Feliciano Lopez’s ranking and performance in 2019

Ranked no.59, Feliciano played his last match on the 16^th of October when he surrendered to Stan Wawrinka 6-7⁴ 6-4 7-6⁴ in the 2^nd round in Antwerp.

This year Lopez has a 19-17 win-loss record. Feliciano conquered 1 title in London.

Rafael Nadal and Feliciano Lopez played each other 13 times. The head to head is 9-4 for Nadal.

The last time that they locked horns, Feliciano Lopez won 5-7 6-4 7-6³ in the 3^rd round in Cincinnati in August 2015.