The Spaniard is playing in Sweden to prepare for his third Olympic Games. He will compete in singles and doubles, where he will team up with Carlos Alcaraz.
Rafael Nadal (261st ATP) is already flying in Sweden. The Spaniard manages to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP 250 in Bastad after beating the British Cameron Norrie (42nd) by a double 6-4, thus winning two victories without dropping sets in a special event of his calendar.
And when the former world number one announced that in 2024 he would only play the most important tournaments of his career, it seemed impossible that one of his stops would be at this small event on the European calendar. Of course, their participation has a clear explanation and has little to do with the tournament itself. Rafael Nadal is playing this week in Sweden exclusively because he needs rhythm before the Paris Olympics, one of the most emblematic stops of his season.
Rafa already knows what it means to win a gold medal in singles (Beijing 2008) and doubles (Rio 2016), so the appetite for the ring event is total. In addition, it will be played in Paris, the city that has most marked his career thanks to the 14 crowns he won at Roland Garros, the place where tennis will be played precisely during these Olympic Games.
All these condiments led him to eliminate Wimbledon and choose to continue competing on clay after Roland Garros (he lost in the first round), since the Olympics will also be held on clay, something that has not happened since Barcelona 1992. So, Bastad was the perfect date on the calendar.
And the feelings at the start of the tournament are also perfect. In the first round he beat Björn Borg’s son, Leo Borg (461st), 6-3 and 6-4, while in the round of 16 he gave a double 6-4 to Cameron Norrie, world number 42. Now, in the round of the best eight, his rival will be the Argentinian Mariano Navone (36th), one of the most successful tennis players on clay in 2024, he reached the final of the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro, the semi-finals at the ATP 250 in Marrakech. He also won a Challenger title in Cagliari.
“I know it will be a tough match, but I really hope I can play good tennis and give myself opportunities. It’s the quarter-finals of a historic event on the circuit like Bastad. “You can’t expect an easy opponent,” the Spaniard commented on his rival this Friday.
Prepare historical doubles
But in order to arrive in Paris at the best possible point, the winner of 22 Grand Slam titles also competes in doubles with the Norwegian Casper Ruud. This, since Carlos Alcaraz (3rd), his teammate in France, is resting after conquering Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
A duo that will capture the attention of the world and that will excite Spain, a country that has 13 medals in its history and has won at least one in eight of the last nine Olympic Games. Nadal and Alcaraz will be the leaders of this delegation, which also includes Pablo Carreño, Alejandro Davidovich and Marcel Granollers.
Of course, before sharing with the Murcian, Nadal will have to add at least one more match with Ruud. On Saturday they will play the semi-finals against the Brazilian duo of Orlando Luz and Rafael Matos.
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Source: Latercera
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
