Nadal, the hero of the eliminatory match against France, travels the road of demolition using all possible means. His objective: to be the youngest player to win the Davis Cup since Hewitt.
The Australian player conquered the Cup against France in 1999, when at 18 years old, he became one of the youngest players in the history of Davis Cup to do so. Rafael would be in position to equalize this mark if in December he triumphs against the United States.
At only 17 years old, he rose to the 47th place in the Entry Rankings, those numbers only comparable to those of Michael Chang, who began on the professional circuit at age 16 and finished with a ranking of 30, and Andr� Agassi, who debuted at the same age, and finished at 91 for the season. Juan Carlos Ferrero, Lleyton Hewitt, Alex Corretja and Carlos Moy� are other examples of those who started their careers young, although not as young as Nadal. (Corretja began at 18; Ferrero at 19 and Moy� also at 19). But his list of accomplishments doesn�t end here. The past August 15th, he became the youngest player to win an ATP title (that of Sopot (Poland)) since the title that the Australian Lleyton Hewitt won at Delray Beach in 1999, at the same age of 18 years and two months.
More records. On March 28, three months before turning 18, in the second round of Key Biscayne, he beat the Swiss Roger Federer, number 1 in the world, by a double score of 6-3. Federer had won 28 of the 29 matches he�d played since the Masters Cup in November. Tim Henman was the only one who had beat him in 2004 until then. Nadal became the first young person to defeat a world number 1 since the American Andy Roddick, at 18, dominated the Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten in the third round of the Masters Series in Montreal in August of 2001. Some regard him as out of sight.
The son of Sebasti�n and Ana Mar�a, Rafel, as his relatives call him, has exploded this season with all the strength of his 183 centimeters. We saw it coming this Sunday in Alicante. The injuries to Moy� and Ferrero have hastened an appearance that should be the norm in the immediate future. Despite all of that, the man from Manacor, with humility worth complimenting, after eliminating Arnaud Clement, reminded us of nothing more than "the singles players in the Davis final should be Moy� and Ferrero, who are number one and two on the Spanish team".
Whatever happens in December, 2004 will be a year to remember in Nadal�s career. After already reaching his first professional title in Sopot and being a finalist in Auckland, this follower of Real Madrid and an admirer of Hewitt, has attained his definitive recognition in the Davis Cup.
The city of Brno opened the doors to the fifth rubber in February. Against all predictions, and again by the injuries to the numbers one and two, Nadal won the final point against Radek Stepanek, another day that the Manacor� has noted on his calendar.
Nadal, who starts playing today in the Palermo tournament, will be waiting today for the news of the location of the final against United States, on December 3rd- 5th. Agust� Pujol, president of the Federation, and the three captains of the Spanish team (Josep Perlas, Jordi Arresse and Juan Bautista Avenda�o), will be the ones responsible for officially naming the winning city. Madrid, Barcelona and Seville are among the main candidates. The capital of Andalusia is the one that seems to be ahead during the last hours, for its technical reasons. Barcelona already received the final of the only Cup that Spain can show off, winning against Australia in December of 2000 in the Palau Sant Jordi, but the fact that Madrid is right in the middle of Olympic history presents a dilemma to those responsible for choosing. Agust� Pujol assured us today that the voting will take into account "purely sports criteria, not political ones, because what we want is to win the Davis Cup". The final that Spain will dispute in December will be the third final in four years that the Spaniards will play, after the victory in 2000 and the rout of last year, also against Australia.
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