Rafael Nadal skipped over double duty on Saturday at the 2024 Bastad Open, withdrawing from his doubles semi-final with Casper Ruud.
This week in Bastad has been eventful for the 38-year-old, who arrived in the Swedish city to test his tennis before the Olympic Games, which begin in a few days. The Spaniard has been practicing on clay ever since he lost at Roland Garros to Alexander Zverev, but nothing compares to competitive matches, and that's why he came to Bastad to see where he stands.
The 22-time major winner had a good time in singles and doubles, making the semi-finals in both, but he only made the final in the singles competition. Nadal forfeited the chance to do so in the doubles after enduring two complicated singles matches back-to-back.
His quarter-final match lasted four hours, while his semi-final also went over two hours, and that was simply too much for him. He totaled over 10 hours of on-court time this week, and with that in mind, it simply didn't make any sense to push himself to play the doubles.
He was adamant about that after his win over Duje Ajdukovic in the semi-final, explaining his decision to withdraw from the doubles competition.
"No. I cannot play doubles. I mean, I'm sad about that because it was a good option to be in another doubles final after a long time. But it's no chance for me. Four hours match yesterday, over two hours today."
"For me, it was a big success to be able to fight for the match today, so I cannot put at risk the final tomorrow, and I honestly cannot put my body at risk. I hope everybody understands. I just tried my best since that moment in singles and doubles but after 4 hours match is a risk I can't, don't make sense."
A withdrawal of one player from doubles impacts their partner as well. As opposed to singles, where a player stands alone on the court, there are two on the court in doubles, so Nadal's withdrawal denied Ruud a chance to fight for the final in Bastad.
He was asked about that but explained that, as professionals, players understand things like this. He praised the Norwegian as a great guy with whom he has a good relationship, implying that Ruud understands the situation. Nadal further admitted he would be totally in favor of such a move if the roles were reversed.
"We are professionals. We are singles players. We know how these things work. Casper, first of all, is a great guy. We have a good relationship between each other and he received the same way that I will receive when you have a player playing in the final tomorrow after having a big battle."
"If Casper was in my position, I would be the person to say to Casper: 'Don't play doubles.' You have to be focused on singles tomorrow and recover well. Even being Casper, who is 23 years old, I will make this decision because it's the right thing to do. Being 38, you can imagine."
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