In his first match since his first-round elimination at Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal won the doubles with Casper Ruud on Monday in Bastad (Sweden). The 38-year-old Spaniard wants to step up his game ahead of the Olympic Games, where he will be competing in singles and doubles with Carlos Alcaraz.
We left Rafael Nadal greeting – for the last time? – the crowd on the Philippe-Chatrier court after his elimination in the first round of Roland-Garros at the end of May. The 38-year-old Spaniard is making his return to competition this week in Bastad (ATP 250) to prepare for the Paris Olympic Games, where he will be competing in singles and doubles with Carlos Alcaraz.
To give himself a chance to shine for his very likely last Olympics, the man with 14 Porte d’Auteuil titles decided to skip the grass season and focus on clay due to the many physical problems of the last few months. So it was in Sweden that “Rafa” got the machine going again, with a first successful test in doubles. With Casper Ruud, also at ease on the surface, they eliminated the tournament’s number 2 seeds, Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela and Guido Andreozzi (6-1, 6-4), in a match interrupted by bad weather.
The final challenge of Nadal’s career?
In the absence of preparing with Carlos Alcaraz – recent Wimbledon winner – Rafael Nadal is finding his bearings in doubles during this week in Sweden, before making the trip to Paris where he will play in his backyard. “I haven’t played doubles for a long time. I’ve said it several times. It would have been ideal to be able to play doubles before (with Alcaraz). But it wasn’t possible. We’re going to arrive a week early. We’ll have the opportunity to train a little, because at the end of the day, the Olympics are a team event in every sense of the word. Doubles are almost as important as singles. It’s the opportunity to win a medal, which is the ultimate goal and the most beautiful thing,” the Spanish legend told L’Equipe.
The player also does not forget the singles tournament, where he used his protected ranking (world number 9, he is 261st this week) to join the Spanish delegation for the Olympics alongside Carlos Alcaraz (world number 3), Pablo Carreno Busta (world number 18 using his protected ranking) and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (world number 32). This week in Bastad, he will face Leo Borg, son of the legend Bjorn Borg (11 Grand Slam titles), in the first round.
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2024-07-15 16:57:21
#match #RolandGarros #Nadal #wins #doubles #launches #preparation #Olympic #Games
