Emma Raducanu took a moment to pay tribute to Rafael Nadal despite suffering an absolutely heartbreaking exit from the Billie Jean King Cup Finals just hours earlier.
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On Tuesday, the Spanish tennis icon saw his career come to an end at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga after he lost to Botic van de Zandschulp in the opening match and Spain went on to lose 2-1 to Netherlands in the quarterfinal stage.
Before that happened, Raducanu defeated Viktoria Hruncakova in the first clash of the Great Britain and Slovakia BJK Cup semifinal. But after Katie Boulter lost to Rebecca Sramkova and Olivia Nicholls and Heather Watson fell short versus Hruncakova and Tereza Mihalikova, the British team was sent packing out of Malaga.
While the 2021 US Open champion was probably crushed over her nation's defeat, she followed Nadal's farewell. And later in a tribute post shared on her Instagram Story, Raducanu dropped salute and heart emojis - basically saying she very much appreciated and respected the 38-year-old.
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Raducanu met Nadal in Malaga
While the BJK Cup Finals was ongoing, the 22-year-old saw the Spaniard in Malaga during one practice. When revealing that, the British tennis star said it was "a cool experience" and also added that the 38-year-old was "so nice and polite," and even dropped a little 'hi' to her.
Meanwhile, Raducanu won all of her three singles matches in straight sets in Malaga - before beating Hruncakova, she also ousted Jule Niemeier and Rebecca Marino.
I think I had some good performances on the court this week. I played three matches, which is great for me. I havent played in a while so I think being able to score a point and get on the board was helpful. I think the positives to take are, physically, I held up pretty well. It didnt take me too long to step back into that match sharpness," the former world No. 10 reflected following her nation's exit in Malaga.
