Rafa Nadal prepared for his Olympic medal quest at the Paris Games with a doubles victory at the Swedish Open in Bastad on Monday, marking his return to competition for the first time since May.
Teaming up with Norwegian Casper Ruud, the 22-time Grand Slam champion secured a commanding 6-1, 6-4 win over the second-seeded duo of Guido Andreozzi and Miguel Reyes-Varela on the clay courts of Sweden.
This marked Nadal’s comeback to the ATP 250 event, where he last triumphed in singles as a 19-year-old in 2005.
Nadal chose to skip Wimbledon to prepare for the Olympics on the clay courts of Roland Garros, where he holds the record with 14 French Open singles titles.
“Personally, I am happy, and I think it was a good match. We played quite well the first time we played together, and I’m happy to be back here after almost 20 years,” the 38-year-old said on court.
“I have great memories from this place from 2003, 2004, and 2005, so I am enjoying this week and hopefully can keep going.”
Nadal is also entered in the singles at Bastad and is scheduled to face Leo Borg, the son of Swedish great Bjorn Borg, in the first round.
Nadal, who won an Olympic singles gold medal in 2008 and a doubles gold in 2016, will partner with French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz in the doubles at Paris.
His doubles match on Monday was interrupted twice due to rain delays, prompting a light-hearted comment from Ruud, the world No. 9 in singles.
“He is getting older, so I’m not sure how his body feels when he has to stop and start all the time, but he did well,” said the Norwegian.
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