Rafael Nadal reached the final at the 2024 Bastad Open, but he wasn't quite content with how the week went, as he felt like he practiced better than he played in matches.
The 38-year-old traveled to Bastad to play competitive tennis because he hadn't played any since Roland Garros. Starting the Olympics without playing any competitive matches in the weeks before didn't seem like a great idea, so he opted against it and went to Bastad to compete at the ATP 250 event.
Players can't get the same out of practices as real matches, and he got plenty of match time in Bastad. Not only because he played singles and doubles but also because he played solid singles.
The Spaniard won a couple of matches to find himself in the final of that event, even though he lost to Nuno Borges, who wasn't as fatigued as him.
Overall, it was a positive experience for Nadal because he got exactly what he hoped for out of the trip—competitive matches, plenty of them. Unfortunately, he had some regrets regarding his stay in Bastad, and they were mostly due to his inability to transfer a superb level from practice to the matches.
Nadal admitted that he felt amazing during his practices the entire week but never quite felt the same during matches. His level wasn't the same either, as he failed to replicate it from practices to matches, and it was very frustrating for him.
He probably arrived in Sweden feeling confident, but then having to play matches such as the one against Mariano Navone, which lasted four hours, shook that confidence a little bit.
"In some way I felt that I arrived here practising much better than what I played in the tournament during the whole week. That's something that I am not satisfied with. I arrived here with the feeling that I was playing a good level and I was not able to show that during the whole week."
"That is something that I am not happy with. Anyway it's a final, so I can't say it's a bad result because it's the first final since a long time ago. But I was not able to feel myself comfortable enough during the whole week to be satisfied with the week of tennis that I played."
The way it shaped up might be annoying for Nadal, but it was still a great week for the Spaniard. It was the best week of tennis he's had since his comeback earlier this year.
Ultimately, the event in itself wasn't that important in the grand scheme of things. The upcoming Olympics, where he hopes to play good tennis, matters most for Nadal and his legacy.
If he shows up at a great level, he will likely very quickly forget that Bastad Open final loss to Borges. He hopes he won't have the same problems in Paris as in Bastad - practicing well but not playing great matches.
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