Next week, after a strong showing in Bastad, 38-year-old Rafael Nadal will make his way back into the top 200. Earning ATP points and breaking into the top 200 for the first time since September of last year, the 22-time Major winner will play in the ATP 250 event semi-final.
For the first time in more than 20 years, Nadal fell out of the top 600 after missing nearly the whole 2023 season with an injury. Beginning in the first week of 2024, the veteran had no prior experience and advanced to the quarterfinals in Brisbane before missing more tournaments because of health problems.
Before making an early exit at Roland Garros, Nadal won one tournament in Rome and advanced to the fourth round of the Madrid Masters.
Rafa continued his amazing journey and became the second-oldest player in the top-200 rankings behind Stan Wawrinka. He moved closer to a spot in the top-250 and will make a huge leap the following Monday.
Nadal didn’t make it to the grass-court swing after losing to Alexander Zverev at Roland Garros. He stayed on the practice court in Mallorca and Greece before traveling to Bastad because he wasn’t feeling well physically. After 19 years away, the king of clay returned to this event in 2005 to defend his title and display his skills on his beloved clay in spite of all the setbacks he had recently experienced.
Rafa won his first match since May 9th against Bjorn Borg, 6-3, 6-4. For a spot in the second round, Nadal broke the legend’s son twice with excellent serving.
Rafael Nadal will return to the top-200 on Monday.
Rafa won 6-4, 6-4 against Cameron Norrie in a match that determined who would advance to the quarterfinal.
After overcoming a 4-1 deficit in the second set, the Spaniard won three breaks and lost serve just once to advance to the final eight. In just four hours, Nadal defeated Mariano Navone 6-7, 7-5, 7-5 to secure a spot in the round of sixteen and a return ranking in the top 200. It was his most difficult test since his comeback!
In one of his longest career best-of-three matches, the veteran accepted the challenge. His victory in the latter half of sets two and three put him back on the winning path after his first semifinal appearance since Wimbledon 2022.
In a clay-court marathon featuring enormous turnarounds and numerous break opportunities, Nadal prevailed by ten points over Navone.
Rafa lost eight of the fifteen breaks that his opponent had available to him, three of which came early in the match. They managed to generate 36 break points. With 21 break opportunities created, Nadal took ten of them and won. In game ten, Mariano squandered two set points on serve after delivering three breaks at the start of the duel.
In game 12, Rafa made two set points on the return, but he missed them and the tie break was lost. He then recovered his game. In the second set, Nadal threw away a 3-0 advantage, and they both served well to reach a 5-5 draw. Following two and a half hours, the Spaniard forced a decider by taking a break in game 11 and closing the set on his serve in the following game.
In the decisive set, the Argentine was up 2-0 but was broken three times in a row, giving his opponent a 5-2 lead. In games eight and ten, Rafa failed to serve out for the match, allowing his opponent to remain in contention.
To make his first ATP semifinal in two years, the 22-time Major winner, though, broke the tie in game 11 and won the next one on his serve.