Emma Raducanu took a second to pay tribute to Rafael Nadal regardless of struggling a completely heartbreaking exit from the Billie Jean King Cup Finals simply hours earlier.
On Tuesday, the Spanish tennis icon noticed his profession come to an finish on the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga after he misplaced to Botic van de Zandschulp within the opening match and Spain went on to lose 2-1 to Netherlands within the quarterfinal stage.
Earlier than that occurred, Raducanu defeated Viktoria Hruncakova within the first conflict of the Nice Britain and Slovakia BJK Cup semifinal. However after Katie Boulter misplaced to Rebecca Sramkova and Olivia Nicholls and Heather Watson fell quick versus Hruncakova and Tereza Mihalikova, the British group was despatched packing out of Malaga.
Whereas the 2021 US Open champion was in all probability crushed over her nation’s defeat, she adopted Nadal’s farewell. And later in a tribute publish shared on her Instagram Story, Raducanu dropped salute and coronary heart emojis – mainly saying she very a lot appreciated and revered the 38-year-old.
Emma Raducanu tribute publish to Rafael Nadal© Emma Raducanu/Instagram
Raducanu met Nadal in Malaga
Whereas the BJK Cup Finals was ongoing, the 22-year-old noticed the Spaniard in Malaga throughout one apply. When revealing that, the British tennis star stated it was “a cool experience” and likewise added that the 38-year-old was “so nice and polite,” and even dropped a bit of ‘hello’ to her.
In the meantime, Raducanu gained all of her three singles matches in straight units in Malaga – earlier than beating Hruncakova, she additionally ousted Jule Niemeier and Rebecca Marino.
“I feel I had some good performances on the court docket this week. I performed three matches, which is nice for me. I haven’t performed shortly so I feel with the ability to rating a degree and get on the board was useful. I feel the positives to take are, bodily, I held up fairly nicely. It didn’t take me too lengthy to step again into that match sharpness,” the previous world No. 10 mirrored following her nation’s exit in Malaga.
