Rafael Nadal beats Swedish great Bjorn Borg’s son Leo in singles return at Bastad
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Spain's Rafael Nadal celebrates after beating Sweden's Leo Borg, son of tennis great Bjorn Borg, in Bastad.
PHOTO: AFP
BASTAD – Rafael Nadal marked his return to singles tennis with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Leo Borg, the son of Swedish great Bjorn, to reach the last 16 in Bastad as he continued his preparations for the Paris Olympics.
His previous singles match was his first-round defeat by Alexander Zverev at the French Open in May.
The 38-year-old Spaniard, a record 14-time French Open winner, then skipped Wimbledon to prepare for the Olympic tournament, which will take place at Roland Garros.
On July 16, Nadal claimed only his eighth singles win of the season on the ATP Tour, defeating 21-year-old Borg in one hour and 25 minutes to set up a meeting with British fifth seed Cameron Norrie on July 18.
“For me, it has been a huge honour to play against the son of one of the biggest legends in the history of our sport. He played quite well, he has a great future in front,” said Nadal, who won his first-round doubles match in the competition alongside Norway’s Casper Ruud on July 15.
On his own performance, he added: “I haven’t been playing a lot of tennis for the past few months. Playing in front of a full crowd means a lot to me. It gives me energy to keep practising every day. Even in the tougher moments, I have been able to keep going with the help of the team but, of course, the fans have a huge impact.”
The 22-time Grand Slam champion missed almost all of 2023 with a hip problem and his comeback earlier this season was stalled by a muscle tear, before small niggles affected his preparations for the French Open.
The Spaniard, who won an Olympic singles gold medal in 2008 and a doubles gold in 2016, will play in the singles in Paris and team up with French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz in the doubles. The tennis tournament at the Games will take place from July 27-Aug 4.
Beyond that, Nadal is set to compete at the US Open as he was among those on the main-draw entry lists revealed on July 16. He missed the Grand Slam tournament three of the past four years.
He has a protected ranking of ninth to put himself into the field for the US Open, which begins on Aug 26 at Flushing Meadows.
Nadal has played the US Open only once – in 2022 when he reached the fourth round – since winning his fourth New York hard-court crown in 2019. REUTERS, AFP
