16. July, BASTAD (Sweden) — Yesterday, Rafa Nadal, making his first appearance on the tennis circuit since May, warmed up for his attempt to capture another Olympic medal at the Paris Games with a doubles victory in the Swedish Open in Bastad. PRINTING Against second seeds Guido Andreozzi and Miguel Reyes-Varela, the 22-time Grand Slam champion and Norwegian Casper Ruud won 6-1, 6-4 on the Swedish clay. Since taking the singles title in 2005 at the age of 19, Nadal had never before participated in an ATP 250 event.
With a record 14 French Open singles titles under his belt, Rafael Nadal chose to forego Wimbledon in order to focus on his Olympic preparations on the clay courts of Roland Garros.
In my opinion, it was a good match, and I am personally satisfied. The 38-year-old stated on the court, “We played pretty well the first time we played together and I’m happy to be back here after almost 20 years.” “I am enjoying this week and hopefully can continue because I have wonderful memories from this place from 2003, 2004 and 2005.” In the first round of the Bastad singles, Nadal is paired with Leo Borg, the son of Swedish tennis legend Bjorn Borg.
Champion of the French Open and Wimbledon, Carlos Alcaraz, will partner with Rafael Nadal in the doubles in Paris. Nadal won an Olympic gold medal in singles in 2008 and a doubles gold in 2016. Ruud, the world number nine in singles, responded to his doubles match being stopped twice yesterday because of rain delays with a playful jab. He did well, the Norwegian said. “He is getting old so I’m not sure how his body feels when he has to stop and start all the time,” the Norwegian added. Reuters