Nadal lost his third straight match at the ATP World Tour Finals on Friday, a day after Verdasco lost the last of his three round-robin matches in the season-ending tournament.
"We are very focused and we know how tough (it's) going to be (to retain the Davis Cup)," said Nadal, who lost to Novak Djokovic 7-6 (5), 6-3 in his final Group B match at the O2 Arena. "We know the Czech Republic wants to win the Davis Cup, too."
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad hereLuckily for Nadal, Verdasco, David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez, the best-of-five final will be played on outdoor clay in Barcelona.
"The change on clay, (it's) going to be a big change," said Nadal, who also lost to Djokovic in the semifinals of the Paris Masters before coming to London. "But that's a big motivation for me, finish the year winning. And I have the opportunity there to play well, to play good tennis on clay, and to win, to win something important for my country."
The second-ranked Nadal entered this week's tournament with a chance to take over the year-end No. 1 spot from Roger Federer. But he lost his opening match to Robin Soderling, the same man who knocked Nadal out in the fourth round of this year's French Open. He then dropped matches against Nikolay Davydenko and Djokovic.
Nadal, though, was realistic about his chances in London before the tournament started.
"It's disappointing if you arrive here with the feeling that you have a big chance to win. But I didn't arrive here with that feeling," Nadal said. "I knew before the tournament that's going to be really tough, difficult. But I tried. Every day I tried my best."
While Nadal lost all three matches in straight sets, the seventh-ranked Verdasco went to three sets in his losses to Federer, Juan Martin del Potro and Andy Murray in Group A.
And on the bright side for Verdasco, the early elimination gives him more time to prepare for next Friday's opening singles matches against a Czech team that includes Radek Stepanek, Tomas Berdych, Jan Hajek and Lukas Dlouhy.
"They were practicing already one week on clay, and Rafa and myself, we didn't start yet because we were playing here," Verdasco said. "But we will try to get used to it as soon as possible."
Djokovic beat Nadal in two his four straight losses - the Spaniard's longest losing streak since dropping four straight in late 2003-early 2004 - but still thinks Spain will be favored.
"Obviously, Spanish players love playing in front of their crowd on clay courts," Djokovic said. "I wouldn't rate the Czechs as favorites because they have to go to Spain, but you never know what's going to happen."
Nadal missed last year's final, when Spain traveled to Argentina and won 3-1, because of injury. He was injured for much of the 2009 season as well and played for his country only in the first round win over Serbia.
But, despite his showing in London, the Australian Open champion is optimistic.
"We (are) going to have one week to play together there and to practice together, to work like a team," Nadal said. "Win together, that's what we're going to try. I know (it's) going to be difficult, but we are confident."
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Nadal officially picked for Davis Cup finalLa Liga round-up
