MALAGA, Spain — Tickets on resale sites for Rafael Nadal’s farewell Davis Cup tournament reached asking prices of €24,000 ($25,300) on Tuesday.
Nadal is part of the Spain team who play the Netherlands on Tuesday in Malaga, and interest in acquiring tickets has skyrocketed since Nadal confirmed this would be his final tennis tournament before retiring.
Tickets could be purchased a few weeks ago for face value at just under €100, but since Nadal’s announcement, they have become hot property with tennis fans seeking one of the tickets in the 11,300-capacity arena Palacio de los Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena.
There are no guarantees Nadal will play on Tuesday, however. The format means Spain will play two singles matches and then one doubles against the Netherlands. If Spain or the Netherlands win both singles matches then the tie is finished.
Nadal is ranked 154 in the world, and has not competed since the Olympics. David Ferrer, the Spain captain, is likely to field Carlos Alcaraz as his No. 1 choice, and on form, it should be Roberto Bautista Agut who gets the No. 2. spot. But this is no normal tournament.
“The Davis Cup is every year,” Alcaraz said on Friday. “Rafa’s farewell, saying goodbye to a legend of the sport, unfortunately only happens once.”
Ferrer would not be drawn on who he’ll nominate for singles on Monday. And Nadal was keen to emphasise it’s team first, before any sentiment. “There are no ideal endings. Ideal endings usually happen in American movies,” Nadal said on Monday. “It’s not something that worries me in that sense. My farewell is going to be what it’s going to be.”
