2024 Bastad Open Preview: Nadal returns with unprecedented partnership with Ruud, while Rublev seeks to defend title

The ATP 250 Bastad Open, also known as the Nordea Open, is set to take place from July 15-22, 2024, on the clay courts of the Bastad Tennis Stadium in Sweden. This tournament features a star-studded main draw including the return of 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal, defending champion Andrey Rublev, and the 2021 champion Casper Ruud.

As a crucial preparatory event for the Paris 2024 Olympics, set to be held the following week at Roland Garros, the Bastad Open will see players honing their skills on clay.

Former world No. 1 Rafael Nadal received a wildcard to enter the main draw despite his current ranking of world No. 261. Nadal has a 7-5 record in 2024 and is coming off a first-round exit at the French Open, where he lost to eventual runner-up Alexander Zverev (No. 4). The Spaniard skipped the grass swing, including Wimbledon, to avoid straining his body with surface changes, with his main focus on the Olympics

That's why Nadal will play in Bastad in order to add more clay-court matches and reach Paris 2024 at a competitive level. The 38-year-old was drawn in the draw against fellow wildcard entrant Leo Borg (No. 467), son of 11-time Grand Slam champion Bjorn Borg.

Nadal will make his singles draw debut on Monday, but first awaits his participation in the doubles draw alongside Casper Ruud (No. 8) starting on Sunday. The Norwegian agreed to an unprecedented partnership with Nadal, who will also play doubles at Paris 2024 alongside Carlos Alcaraz (No. 2). Nadal and Ruud were drawn against second seeds Miguel Angel Reyes and Guido Andreozzi.

The Norwegian was singles champion in 2021 and runner-up in 2023. Ruud entered as a second seed and will have a bye in the first round, so his singles debut is expected on Wednesday or Thursday. The 3-times Grand Slam ruinner-up awaits the winner of the South American duel between Federico Coria (No. 72) and Thiago Monteiro (No. 86).

Since winning his second Masters 1000 at the Madrid Open, Rublev (No. 6) has struggled to find consistency in his game. He ended clay-swing with early defeats at Rome and Roland Garros and grass-swing with just two losses, with one of the big losses at Wimbledon being a first-round exit to world No. 122 Francisco Comesana.

Rublev will be the first seed and will have the difficult task of defending the title he won in 2023 by defeating Ruud in the final. The Russian will make his second-round debut on Wednesday against Thiago Agustin Tirante (No. 127) or a qualifier. After several inconsistent weeks, Rublev is desperate to defend points in Bastad, as an early defeat puts his stay in the top-10 at risk.

Bastad will be the first tournament on clay since the French Open for most of the players in the draw, so showing a quick adaptation will be key for those looking for a deep run in Sweden. Netherlands' Tallon Griekspoor (No. 27) and Argentina's Mariano Navone (No. 32) round out the four seeds who will have first-round byes.

Griekspoor already showed his weapons on clay by reaching the third round of the French Open and falling in a tight match against Zverev, which was decided in the 5th set tie-break. Argentinian Navone on the other hand, has been one of the newcomers of the season, was a finalist at the ATP 500 Rio Open and won the Cagliari Challenger two months ago, defeating local Lorenzo Musetti, recent semi-finalist at Wimbledon, in the final.

Russians Pavel Kotov (No. 53) and Roman Safiulin (No. 44) may have a good chance in this tournament as they are also among the ranking favourites, although both are more of hardcourt-specialists and the recent change of surface from grass will be an obstacle to their aspirations.

There will be other outstanding clay-courts players, such as 5th seed Cameron Norrie (No. 42) or 7th seed Nuno Borges (No. 50), with extensive experience in this kind of tournaments. Another player to watch will be the former world No. 17 Christian Garin (No. 106), who has 5 clay-court titles or the young Frenchman Luca Van Assche (No. 104).