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.
Nadal seeks form, teams up with Ruud for doubles
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).
![nadalrg](https://r.testifier.nl/Acbs8526SDKI/resizing_type:fit/watermark:Picture%3A%20IMAGO/width:1280/plain/https://s3-newsifier.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/tennisuptodate.com/images/2024-05/nadalrg-6654b8848ffdd.jpg@webp)
Rafa Nadal at the 2024 French Open, he lost against Zverev in straight sets.
Rublev aims to defend his title
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.
Players to Watch
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).