MALAGA: “I think no one would have ever imagined a script like this,” Feliciano Lopez tells Arab News at the Martin Carpena Arena in Malaga, where Rafael Nadal is set to play the last tournament of his professional career alongside his Spanish teammates in the Davis Cup Finals.

Lopez, a longtime friend and teammate of Nadal, is the tournament director of the Davis Cup Finals and finds it poetic that the Spanish legend has chosen this team competition to be the last stop of his storied career.

“2004 Rafa wins the Davis Cup in Seville, I think that was probably the first big turning point of his career, in my opinion,” reflects Lopez.

“And then 20 years later, his career is coming to an end, playing the same competition, playing in Spain, in his country, alongside Carlos Alcaraz, who I think is a true blessing, because in a country like Spain, it’s very difficult to see that kind of athlete.

“Rafa is going to be playing his final professional tournament and we have Carlos Alcaraz having already four Grand Slams, it’s a true blessing.”

Spain’s greatest sports icon ending his professional tennis career by sharing a team with his heir apparent is indeed as good as it gets for the home fans that will fill up the 11,000-capacity arena when Nadal and Co. take on the Netherlands in the quarterfinals on Tuesday (5pm local time, 7pm KSA time).

“Also the fact that David (Ferrer, the former world No. 3) is the captain, it’s another nice coincidence. They are friends, they were teammates, they were rivals as well,” added Lopez, referring to Spain’s Davis Cup captain.

“Me here as a tournament director, I don’t know who would have been able to write this beautiful script. But I think it’s going to be very emotional, a lot of things coming to our minds, but of course Rafa is going to be the one playing the main role I think this week.”

Lopez, who officially retired from professional tennis last year and serves as tournament director at the Davis Cup Finals and the Madrid Open, first met a 15-year-old Nadal in Seville – just 200km north-west of Malaga – where they shared a practice session together.

“I was amazed by the intensity he was putting already at 15 years old,” he recalls.

Lopez’s funniest memory of his countryman was when Nadal made his Davis Cup debut in an away tie against the Czech Republic in 2004.  

Nadal was still 17 at the time and lost in straight sets in his first singles and doubles matches that weekend. But the tie was still in play thanks to Tommy Robredo, who won the other singles clash, allowing the Spaniards to enter the last day of action trailing the Czechs 1-2, with two singles showdowns to come.

Just as Lopez was about to take to the court for a do-or-die match against Tomas Berdych, a teenage Nadal stopped him in his tracks.

“I was literally almost putting my feet on the court and I saw Rafa coming towards me, running. I was a bit concerned, ‘What’s going on, what’s wrong Rafa?’” Lopez recounted.

“He said, ‘No, no Feli, I just want to wish you good luck, and please, you have to win this match and I will take care of the rest’.

“I will never forget, he was 17 years old, he made his debut, lost the two matches he played and he was convinced and he was so determined that he was going to win the deciding match; and that tells you everything about the way he thinks and the way he is. I will never forget that.”

Nadal, of course, clinched the tie for Spain by winning the fifth match in straight sets over Radek Stepanek, who was wanked 49 in the world at the time. A few months later, he shocked world No. 2 Andy Roddick of the United States to help Spain secure the Davis Cup title at home in Seville.

Spain is not short on sporting legends, but Lopez does not hesitate to dub Nadal the greatest of them all.

“He's the best sportsman of our history of course, with all respect to the others, because we have plenty of them, and very good ones,” said the 43-year-old.

“He’s by far our best athlete and his legacy is going to be also as a human being. Because his titles, of course, are not going to be forgotten, that’s for sure. But it’s very rare to see someone that good, tennis-wise, but also his legacy as a human being is going to be maybe bigger and better than his legacy as a tennis player.

“This is for me something unbelievable.”

In a career that spanned over two decades, Nadal won 92 titles, including 22 Grand Slams. Novak Djokovic is the only man in history to have amassed more major trophies.

Asked what he personally believes makes Nadal special, Lopez said: “I think his passion – he’s someone very passionate, he does everything with a lot of passion in his life.

“As a tennis player, I will say his intensity, from the first point until the last point, and this is something very rare to see. Tennis matches can be very long and you see up and downs all the time with almost every player, but with Rafa it’s a different story. He’s able to play with a lot of intensity and his self-belief also is something I think out of this world. That’s really something also remarkable.”

Lopez added: “But also tennis-wise, he’s a very complete player. He’s so powerful, the speed of his ball is completely different than any of the players. There was always a lot of talk regarding his fitness condition, his mentality and his intensity, all these things, but I think tennis-wise he’s top three in the history of the sport, otherwise I don’t think he would have been able to achieve everything that he achieved.”

Tickets for Tuesday evening’s quarterfinal between Spain and the Netherlands were sold out the minute Nadal announced he would be retiring after the Davis Cup and even participating players and captains have joked that they’re unable to score a seat in the arena for the Mallorcan’s farewell event.

“We can't get tickets. I think the tickets are going for $100,000. If you want to pay for me, I'll go,” laughed USA team captain and doubles legend Bob Bryan.

“Of course since Rafa decided that this is going to be his last professional tournament, the expectations increased all over the world and everyone wants to be present here today and there’s no room for everyone. So we’re getting ready for a big week,” said Lopez.

Qualification for the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, scheduled to take place in India and Sri Lanka, is in full swing. From Nov. 19-28, Doha takes center stage for Asia Sub-Regional Qualifier Group B.

With seven nations taking part it looks set to be an exciting competition, with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Bhutan, Cambodia, Thailand and the UAE joining hosts Qatar. The teams are competing for the last two places in the Asia-East Asia-Pacific regional final, to be held in Malaysia in August 2025.

Malaysia and Kuwait emerged successfully from the Asia Group A qualifier, while Samoa and Japan won the East Asia-Pacific A and East Asia-Pacific B qualifiers, respectively. Nepal, Oman and Papua New Guinea have already qualified by virtue of taking part in the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies.

The seven teams competing for these last two places will play in a round robin league, with the top two teams in the table progressing to the next qualifier.

Saudi Arabia are familiar with their rivals after taking part alongside them all in T20 tournaments this year. These matches were in either the Asia Cricket Council T20 Challenger Cup in Thailand or the ACC Premier Cup that followed in Nepal. In the Challenger Cup, Saudi Arabia convincingly beat Bhutan, Thailand, Japan and Cambodia in Bangkok, the latter in the final. This maintained their excellent record in Thailand, where they won the ACC 50-over version in 2023.

Saudi Arabia’s convincing qualification in February for the ACC T20 Premier Cup provided an opportunity for the team to test itself against strong opposition in Nepal. The bridge proved too large to gap, however, as only one match out of four played was won.

This ought not to be the case in the current Asia Group B qualifier in Qatar. The UAE are arguably favorite to win, sitting 16th in the ICC T20I men’s rankings. Closest to them are Bahrain (26), Qatar (28) and Saudi Arabia (33). Behind them come Cambodia, ranked 42nd, Thailand in 59th and Bhutan in 77th. Saudi Arabia have comfortably beaten each of them in the ACC T20 Challenger Cup so it is the matches against the three higher-ranking teams that are likely to prove crucial.

Three matches will be played each day for 10 days at either the West End Park International Cricket Stadium or the University Stadium in Doha from Nov. 19. Saudi Arabia’s first match is against Bahrain, who are just ahead in the T20I rankings.

If the Saudi team can start their campaign with a victory, they will have a good chance of challenging for one of the top two spots in the table — and a place in the Asia-East Asia-Pacific regional final. From there, the dream is the 2026 T20 World Cup.