By Chris Oddo | Sunday April 8, 2018
Rafael Nadal returns to Davis Cup and the clay season has begun. Here’s a look at what happened over the weekend. In case you missed it Twitter basically went crazy with GIFs of Nadal rooting for his teammates in doubles. Oh, and there’s the usual hyper emotional scenes that come about every Davis Cup weekend, as well as a lot of strong opinions on the state of Davis Cup and players speaking out against the ITF’s proposed changes to format. Here goes…
1. Good weekend for Nadal. Spain got the win and Rafa won against two top players in straight sets. Oh, and he was also a superfan.
2. Amelie Mauresmo speaks her mind about Davis Cup changes.
3. Lucas Pouille was indeed the man of the moment for France. He clinched Les Bleus 6th straight Davis Cup victory with a win over Fabio Fognini. No small task on red clay.
4. Talk about the passion—another great shot of Nadal and Ferrer rooting on Spain’s doubles team on Saturday in Valencia.
5. One of the reasons that the ITF wants to change Davis Cup is this… the lack of marquee matchups.
6. Here’s Rafa’s take on the situation…
7. From one legend to another. Cricket great Sachin Tendulkar sends congrats to Leander Paes, who became the Davis Cup’s all-time winningest doubles player over the weekend.
8. Boris Becker was all class after Germany’s difficult defeat on Sunday in Valencia.
9. Marin Cilic does some cheerleading of his own before leading Croatia to victory over Kazakhstan.
10. Watching Rafa watch tennis was nearly as amazing as watching Rafa play tennis this weekend.
11. French captain Yannick Noah speaks out against the ITF’s proposed changes to Davis Cup.
12. Lucas Pouille also speaks out.
13. David Ferrer celebrates his tie-clinching victory over Philipp Kohlschreiber.
14. Big hugs from Nadal.
15. And here are your semifinal matchups!