Rafael Nadal wasn't able to win the 2024 Bastad Open, still, he found many positives in the gruelling week.
After not playing since May 27th, 2024, the Spanish player returned to action after almost two months away from the courts. He certainly wanted to see where his level stands ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris, even though he refused to brand the Bastad Open as 'preparation'.
Many tennis players use lower-tier ATP 250 tournaments in the weeks prior to big events as some sort of warm-up, but the 22-time major winner explained that for him, every tournament mattered, and he certainly played like it.
He started with a doubles match alongside Casper Ruud, beating the second-seeded Guido Andreozzi and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela 6-1, 6-4. Then, he played in the first round of singles, outplaying Leo Borg 6-3, 6-4, before returning to the doubles court to beat Theo Arribage and Roman Safiullin 6-4, 3-6, 12-10.
He then outplayed also the fifth-seeded Cameron Norrie in singles, winning 6-4, 6-4. At that point, Nadal has already spent close to six hours on the tennis court in four days of play, but the most gruelling part of the week was just about to come.
In the quarter-final, he battled Mariano Navone for four hours, which was his second-longest career best-of-three match, winning 6-7(2), 7-5, 7-5 to reach the semi-final, in which he bested Duje Ajdukovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 14 minutes to reach the final.
At that point, Nadal spent over 12 hours on the tennis courts in only six days, which certainly contributed to his final loss, which was a 3-6, 2-6 defeat to Nuno Borges. Still, after the final, Nadal said that despite the grueling week, there was no damage done to his body, which was the most important part of the week to him.
"The level was so far from what it should be. Probably the energy too. It has been a long week with long matches. Even if my body, I don't have damage, that's important – but mentally and physically, I'm not used to playing four days in a row and playing long matches."
"I need to analyse well and find the reason why I played that way, even if the energy wasn't right. Things like this can happen, and that's the situation. I don't have to lie or hide anything."
Still, the 2005 champion from the tournament in the Swedish city was able to play in the final of the ATP 250 tournament, which was his best result at a tournament since the 2022 Roland Garros, and he was happy about that, especially after ending the week without an injury.
"I played the final, that's positive. I was able to play long matches without having an injury, that's good."
Now, the 38-year-old will look towards the Paris Olympics, where he wil be one of the top favorites, given that the Games are played at Roland Garros, the grounds where he won 14 major trophies in his tennis career.
The draw for the tennis tournament at the Olympic Games will be done on Thursday, July 25th, 2024, and the tournament starts on Saturday, July 27th, 2024, with Nadal as one of the player representing Spain, alongside one of the top favorites, Carlos Alcaraz.
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