Tennis legend Rafael Nadal returned to the clay courts in Bastad for the first time in 19 years as he teamed up with Casper Ruud to win a first-round doubles match at the Nordea Open on Monday.
It has to be noted that Rafael Nadal won the singles title in southern Sweden as a 19-year-od in 2005 and this was his first game since then as he is gearing up for the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024. Rafael Nadal has been dealing with hip and abdominal injuries over the past 1 1/2 years.
Olympic-Bound Rafael Nadal Returns To Clay Court For First Time In 19 Years
Nadal and Ruud won 6-1, 6-4 in the rain-interrupted match against second seeds Guido Andreozzi of Argentina and Miguel Reyes-Varela of Mexico. Both the players dominated on the Swedish clay, swiftly securing the first set with two breaks.
Play was halted due to rain when the score was tied at 3-3 in the second set. There was another brief interruption before Nadal and Ruud completed the match in a total of 79 minutes.
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“We played quite well for it being the first time that we played together,” said Nadal.
“And yeah, happy to be back here after almost 20 years. I have great memories of this place from 2003, 2004, 2005. I am enjoying this week and hopefully, we can keep going.”
Nadal lifted the singles title in Bastad as a 19-year-old in 2005.
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Rafael Nadal skipped Wimbledon 2024 to focus on the upcoming Paris Summer Olympics 2024, which will be played at Roland Garros where he won 14 French Open titles.
Talking about his Paris plans, Nadal will be seen competing in the singles and doubles with Carlos Alcaraz, the winner of the Wimbledon 2024 tournament on Sunday. Expressing his emotions on Carlos’ win, Nadal said:
“It was an amazing day for Spanish sport.”
He added: “The Spanish team played an amazing Euro Cup since the first day to the last. We are very proud, all the country, about what they did. I was a very happy day yesterday too, with Carlos winning Wimbledon.”
Rafael Nadal will be next seen in action against Leo Borg, the son of Swedish great Bjorn Borg, in the first round of the Bastad singles tournament on Tuesday.
