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2024 Olympic Games | Rafa Nadal warms up with doubles win in Bastad

2024 Olympic Games | Rafa Nadal warms up with doubles win in Bastad

Rafa Nadal warmed up for his bid for another Olympic medal at the Paris Olympics on Monday with a doubles victory at the Swedish Open in Bastad. The Spaniard returned to competition for the first time since May.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion and Norwegian Casper Ruud won 6-1 6-4 against second-seeded Guido Andreozzi and Miguel Reyes-Varela on the Swedish clay.

It was Nadal’s first appearance in the ATP 250 event since winning the singles title in 2005 as a 19-year-old.

Nadal decided to skip Wimbledon to prepare for the Olympic Games on the clay courts of Roland Garros, where he won a record 14 French Open singles titles.

“Personally I’m happy and I think it was a good game. 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 the pitch.

“I have great memories of this place from 2003, 2004 and 2005, so I’m enjoying this week and hopefully I can continue with this.”

Nadal will also compete in the singles in Bastad and will face Leo Borg, the son of Swedish great Bjorn Borg, in the first round.

Nadal, who won gold in singles at the 2008 Olympic Games and gold in doubles in 2016, will play doubles in Paris with Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz.

His doubles match on Monday was stopped twice due to rain, prompting a light-hearted dig from Ruud, the world number nine in singles.

“He’s getting old so I don’t know how his body feels when he has to stop and start all the time, but he did well,” said the Norwegian.

Published July 16, 2024, 04:30 IST