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.
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