Following months of discussion about when Rafael Nadal would hang up his racket, the Spaniard finally did it, at the Davis Cup in Malaga in November. Russian player Veronika Kudermetova thinks it’s very ‘sad ‘ when a player who ruled the tennis courts for over a decade plays his farewell match.

The 38-year-old was up against finalists Netherlands’ Botic van de Zandschulp in the first match of the quarterfinal tie. Nadal lost the match 6-4, 6-4 and Spain’s one win and a defeat (in the decider) knocked them out of the competition and eventually ended the King of Clay’s career.

Nadal, the 22-time Grand Slam champion, became the second player from the Big 3 to bid farewell to the game after 20-time major champion Roger Federer who retired in 2022.

Kudermetova on the other hand, last played a match in the WTA Finals in doubles. The former World No.9 and Chan Hao-ching reached the semifinals but were defeated by Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova. In singles, the World No. 77’s last match of the season was against Viktoriya Tomova in the Japan Open.

Because of the war in Ukraine, tennis players from Russia and Belarusia have been banned from participating in the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup. Veronika Kudermetova addressed the ban in the aforementioned interview.

Russia’s men’s team won the Davis Cup in 2021 with a 2-0 victory over Croatia, while the women’s team also emerged as champion the same year by beating Switzerland 201. Kudermetova was part of the winning team.

It was the men’s team’s first title since 2006 and for the women, their first since 2008. The women Russian and Belarusian players were also banned from participating in the United Cup.

Kudermetova has never reached the semifinals of Grand Slam singles with the French Open quarterfinals in 2022 being her best result in major events. In doubles, however, she has advanced to the final of 2021 Wimbledon and made it to multiple semifinals.