When Spain ruled Delhi: Revisiting Nadal & Co.’s dominant Davis Cup win

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

In September of 2016, the then five-time champion Spain easily defeated India 5-0 over three days in a Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) complex.

Why three days? Before the format of the tournament was changed in 2019, a typical Davis Cup tie had two singles matches on a Friday followed by a doubles clash on Saturday and two reverse singles on Sunday and every rubber was a best-of-five sets contest unless the tie had been sealed before the first or the second reverse singles. In that case, the remaining games could be shortened to best-of-three sets.

The kind of frenzy around the Spain fixture was rare for a home Davis Cup tie. The reason being Rafael Nadal. The Spaniard was part of the star-studded visiting squad which also had Feliciano Lopez, David Ferrer and Marc Lopez with Conchita Martinez as the non-playing captain.

After more than eight years, the same venue is set to host another Davis Cup tie but the opponent is Togo, an unknown and lower-ranked side.

Ramkumar Ramanathan, who played against Spain in 2016, is also a part of the team which faces Togo. “It’s always a privilege to play for the country. And that too, playing against Spain. We all were thinking that Rafa was going to show up,” Ramkumar, currently ranked 406th in the ATP Rankings, told Sportstar.

Ramkumar was supposed to face Nadal, a 14-time Major winner at that time, in the opening singles but the Spaniard pulled out of the game due to stomach ache. “Then, (Feliciano) Lopez played. Still, he was a Top 30 player. I thought I played a good match (Lopez won 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1). Just ended up losing but yes, they are fond memories. Nothing can buy those moments. I still have good memories from that match except that I lost. But it was a great one week to 10 days for us and it brings back that feeling that that’s what we play for,” added the 30-year-old.

Fans of Nadal finally got their money’s worth on the second day as he and Marc Lopez — the newly-crowned men’s doubles Olympic gold medallists — took down Indian tennis legend Leander Paes and young Saketh Myneni 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-4 to seal the win for Spain.

Anand Amritraj, member of the Indian Davis Cup teams which finished as runner-up in 1974 and 1987, was the non-playing captain of the side against Spain. The 73-year-old minced no words while reminiscing about the tie against Nadal and co.

“That was one of the two best teams we played in our lives. As a player, in 1987, when we went to Sweden to play in the final (Sweden won 5-0). One of the few times when we had no chance of winning. We were happy to win a few sets here and there but we were never going to win the match. Similarly when the Spaniards came here in 2016, we realised we had no chance of winning but it was a pleasure to have Nadal, Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez – three world-class players,” said Amritraj.

“He (Nadal) was such a great guy that he did every possible interview, mingled with the people, gave autographs, etc. David Ferrer, who was ranked 13th in the world, was completely ignored because Nadal was here and I guess the poor guy was used to it. But he was a great help. Their doubles team was great as well. Honestly, I don’t see it is going to happen again in the near future.”