Rafa Nadal playing some incredible defense against Navone in Bastad. The most graceful mover to ever play on a clay court. Trademark forehand to finish it off. 🇪🇸👑
Rafael Nadal reflects on physical state ahead of Paris 2024: "I'm not used to playing four days in a row and long matches"
ATPMonday, 22 July 2024 at 19:30
Rafael Nadal spoke about his condition heading into the Olympic Games. The 22-time Grand Slam champion played the Bastad Open final on Sunday, his first final in over two years, but ended up losing surprisingly to Portugal's Nuno Borges, who claimed his first ATP title with a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
After the defeat, Nadal expressed some doubts about his physical condition. During the week, Nadal played almost 9 and a half hours to reach the final, including a 4-hour duel against Mariano Navone, the second longest three-set match of his career.
Nadal eyes Olympic glory after tough week
The former world No. 1 now faces the next challenge at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where he will compete in singles and doubles alongside Carlos Alcaraz. This will mark Nadal's return to the courts of Roland Garros, following his first-round defeat at the French Open two months ago.
aAfter his participation in Bastad, Nadal commented that the significant amount of court time and the exhausting week left him fatigued: "The level was so far from what it should be. Probably the energy too," said Nadal. "It has been a long week with long matches. Even if my body, I don't have damage, that's important — but mentally and physically, I am not used to playing four days in a row and playing long matches.”
Nadal highlighted reaching the final as a positive, although he admitted feeling better with his level in practice than in the tournament: "I played the final, that's positive,” he said. “I was able to play long matches without having an injury, that's good. In some way, I felt that I arrived here practising much better than what I played in the tournament during the whole week.
Rafa Nadal at 2024 Rome Open.
"That's something that I am not satisfied with. I arrived here with the feeling that I was playing at a good level, and I was not able to show that during the whole week," the 14-time Roland Garros champion added. "Anyway, it's a final, so I can't say it's a bad result because it's the first final since a long time ago. But I was not able to feel comfortable enough during the whole week to be satisfied with the week of tennis that I played."
The Olympic Games will start on Saturday, July 27, and Nadal will seek to repeat the gold medals he previously won. In 2008, he defeated Chilean Fernando Gonzalez in the final to claim gold, while in 2016, he and Marc Lopez won gold in doubles after defeating Romanians Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau.
claps 0visitors 217
Just In
Popular News
Latest Comments
- Rybakina is back!!
mandoist21-12-2024 - She sems to have a turbulent relationship with The Truth. Not even smartenough to make an excuse like "I severely twisted my ankle yesterday" -- then be seen shopping in some city next day while "recuperating"!mandoist21-12-2024
- Why do you even publish this TwatCaster's PATHETIC stunt for attention? There's plenty of reasons why imbeciles like him are 'talking' and people like Iga Swiatek are 'walking the walk'. Tennisuptodate should be above this tripe.mandoist16-12-2024
- If and when Political Correctness and gullible hearts over-rule BIOLOGY, the Human world begins its already seeming decline.mandoist15-12-2024
- The new generation has arrived and these guys need to do it with the left overs.
AceOfBase13-12-2024 - Every young, inexperiend CEO has "better" ideas (and friends to hire).mandoist12-12-2024
- What a load of nonsense. Emotional stress definitely didn’t cause her wrist or ankle injuries.Lyca10-12-2024
- Taylor Fritz 🎾 – the surprising third for many. 🎄 A great Christmas tree quiz question! 🎅✨MrAndreeva10-12-2024
- Simona Halep taking the axe out 🪓😮💨MrAndreeva08-12-2024
- ITIA is literally a Secret Organization. Way past time for a neutral entity to oversee, if not guide, these Elitists within ITIA whom enjoy their ability to keep their "investigations" in a business as usual format behind closed doors!!mandoist08-12-2024
