Rafael Nadal's farewell at the Davis Cup: When he'll play, how to watch on TV and more to know

MALAGA, Spain (AP) — Rafael Nadal is getting set to retire from professional tennis after one last event: He will be part of Spain's team at the Davis Cup finals that start Tuesday in front of a home crowd in Malaga.

The 38-year-old Nadal has been on tour for more than 20 years and is the second member of the so-called Big Three of men’s tennis to stop playing. Roger Federer announced his departure in 2022, while Novak Djokovic is still near the top of the game.

“It is obviously a difficult decision, one that has taken me some time to make. But in this life, everything has a beginning and an end," said Nadal, who practiced Friday in Malaga. "And I think it is the appropriate time to put an end to a career that has been long and much more successful than I could have ever imagined.”

Here is a guide to Nadal's goodbye to tennis:

— In the U.S.: Tennis Channel

— Other countries will be listed here as of Monday.

It's not entirely clear when Nadal's last match will come, in large part because the Davis Cup is a team event and what's now known as the “Final 8” begins at the quarterfinal stage. Spain will get things started against the Netherlands on Tuesday. Win that, and the Spaniards would advance to the semifinals Friday against Canada or Germany (who meet each other Wednesday). The other quarterfinals are scheduled for Thursday: the United States vs. Australia, and defending champion Italy vs. Argentina. The championship round will be Sunday. There are two matches in singles and one in doubles in each matchup; the first country to win twice progresses. The other wild card in all of this: No one knows for sure whether Nadal will be chosen by Spain's captain, David Ferrer, to play singles, doubles, both or — theoretically possible, if unlikely — neither.

Nadal is joined on Spain’s roster by four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz, Roberto Bautista Agut, Pedro Martinez and Marcel Granollers.

The biggest reason he is ready to move on is that he has been bothered by a series of injuries, including a painful foot, abdominal muscle problems and a hip issue that required surgery last season. “The reality is that it has been some difficult years, these last two especially," Nadal said. "I don’t think I have been able to play without limitations.”

Nadal has not played much at all each of the last two seasons due to injuries; he's just 12-7 in 2024. His most recent official competition anywhere came in early August at the Paris Olympics, where he lost to his longtime rival — and eventual gold medalist — Djokovic in the second round of singles, and reached the doubles quarterfinals alongside Alcaraz before bowing out. Nadal also played two exhibition matches in Saudi Arabia last month.

Nadal finishes with 22 Grand Slam singles titles, behind only Djokovic's 24 among men in the history of tennis, and ahead of Federer's 20. The breakdown: 14 at the French Open, four at the U.S. Open, two at Wimbledon, two at the Australian Open. Nadal's last major championship came in Paris in 2022, when he needed nerve-numbing injections in his left foot.

Nadal has been a part of Spain's team at some stage of the Davis Cup during five years when the country won the title — in 2004, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2019. That first title came after a teenage Nadal defeated then-No. 2-ranked Andy Roddick as Spain got past the U.S. “I am very excited that my last tournament will be the final of the Davis Cup and representing my country,” Nadal said. "I think I’ve come full circle, because one of my first great joys as a professional tennis player was the Davis Cup final in Seville in 2004.”

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

In this image taken with a slow shutter speed, Spain's tennis player Rafael Nadal gestures during a training session at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall, in Malaga, southern Spain, on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Spain's Rafael Nadal takes part in a training session at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall, in Malaga, southern Spain, on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Spain's Rafael Nadal takes part during a training session at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall, in Malaga, southern Spain, on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Spain's tennis player Rafael Nadal takes part in a training session at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall, in Malaga, southern Spain, on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

FILE - Rafael Nadal of Spain plays a backhand return to Yannick Hanfmann of Germany during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill, File)

LONDON (AP) — Britain's Treasury chief Rachel Reeves said Friday that she is “not satisfied” by official figures showing the British economy's rebound from recession slowed down sharply in the third quarter of the year, as the country's top central banker voiced his concerns about the economic damage wrought by the U.K.'s departure from the European Union.

The Office for National Statistics said growth during the July-to-September period was just 0.1%. That was lower than the 0.5% recorded in the previous three-month period and below market expectations of 0.2%.

The statistics agency said overall output in September shrank, a development that has fueled accusations from critics of the new Labour government that its pessimism dragged the economy down in its first few weeks in office. The Conservatives’ Treasury spokesperson, Mel Stride said the deterioration in business and consumer confidence was a direct result of the government “talking the economy down.”

On coming to power in July for the first time in 14 years, the government described its economic inheritance from the former Conservative administration as the bleakest in decades, requiring urgent action to fix the public finances.

Reeves used the budget to raise taxes sharply, mainly on business, as well as increasing spending on public services, such as the state-run National Health Service, and borrowing for investment.

“Improving economic growth is at the heart of everything I am seeking to achieve, which is why I am not satisfied with these numbers,” Reeves said following Friday's figures.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said raising economic growth his government's number one priority over the next five years. Since the global financial crisis in 2008-9, the British economy has underperformed relative to previous years and actually slipped into a modest recession in 2023.

The Resolution Foundation think tank said the British economy has been a “rollercoaster” over the past year and that its medium-term performance has been “staid and stagnant”

As a result of the third-quarter slowdown, the think tank said the U.K. has fallen below the U.S. at the top of this year's growth leaderboard of the Group of Seven leading industrial economies.

“This all serves to highlight that the government’s mission to renew strong economic growth is both extremely hard, and absolutely necessary," said Simon Pittaway, the think tank's senior economist.

One factor hobbling the economy, many economists say, is Brexit, when Britain left the EU in 2020, which has made trade more difficult. Though the post-Brexit trade agreement between the two sides ensured there would be no tariffs placed on goods, exporters are finding life tough.

As part of Brexit, the U.K. also left the frictionless single market and the customs union, which means firms have to file forms and customs declarations for the first time in years, among other hurdles.

On Thursday evening, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said he had to “point out the consequences" of Brexit, even though as an official he had no position on Brexit.

“The changing trading relationship with the EU has weighed on the level of potential supply," he said. “It underlines why we must be alert to and welcome opportunities to rebuild relations while respecting the decision of the British people.”

Starmer has said he wants to “reset” the relationship with the EU but has ruled out the possibility of Britain rejoining the single market or the customs union, or of a return of the freedom of movement of people.

However, ruling those options out doesn't leave the British government much room for maneuver, Starmer has vowed to reduce some of the post-Brexit barriers to the movement of people and goods that have undermined ties between Britain and the bloc.

This may see a new deal to limit veterinary checks on food at the border, an agreement on the mutual recognition of professional standards or the introduction of a program that would allow young EU and U.K. citizens to study, work and live for short periods in the U.K. and the EU, respectively.

Most economists agree, though, that these changes would only modestly improve growth, which the government is counting on to improve Britain's stretched public services.

Shoppers pass a souvenir shop with a model of Big Ben in the window in Oxford Street in London, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

A woman photographs a festive shop window in Oxford Street in London, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Pedestrians pass a closing down sign on a souvenir shop in Oxford Street in London, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

A man sleeps alongside his dog outside a festive shop window in Oxford Street in London, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Shoppers pass a festive shop window in Oxford Street in London. Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

FILE - People walk in a decorated arcade near Piccadilly Circus in London, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivers her first Mansion House speech on financial services in the City of London, during the Financial and Professional Services Dinner, in the Egyptian Hall of Mansion House, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (Isabel Infantes/PA via AP)

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivers her first Mansion House speech on financial services in the City of London, during the Financial and Professional Services Dinner, in the Egyptian Hall of Mansion House, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (Isabel Infantes/PA via AP)