Rafael Nadal stands by his decision to not play any tournaments on grass this season as he tunes up his preparation for the Olympic Games.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion has returned to action this week in Sweden at the Gstaad Open. An ATP 250 event on the clay which features two top 10 players – Andrey Rublev and Casper Ruud. Ruud is also playing in the doubles tournament alongside Nadal.
In recent weeks there has been speculation about how long 38-year-old Nadal will continue his career. The Spaniard has been coy about his future and insisted that he is not thinking too far ahead. However, he is currently on the entry list for the US Open that will get underway later this year.
“I love playing tennis. After Roland Garros, it saddened me that I could only train for a week at the physical level I needed to give myself the chance to be competitive on the Tour.” The former world No.1 told reporters earlier this week.
“That’s why I decided to keep training, to see how my body reacted with the Olympics in sight. Skipping the grass season was the right decision.”
Nadal made a winning start in Gstaad with a 6-3, 6-4, win over Leo Borg who, is the son of 11-time major winner Bjorn Borg. That was the first time he had played a competitive match in singles since losing in the first round of the French Open to Alexander Zverev, who went on to reach the final. This week is only the sixth Tour-level event he has played this season due to physical issues.
Gstaad is an opportunity for the former world No.1 to get back into shape ahead of the Paris Olympics, which will be heldon clay at Roland Garros.
“I’m happy to play on clay here in Bastad and look forward to being at Roland Garros in two weeks for the Olympics, which gives me extra motivation.” He said.
Nadal’s next match will be against fifth seed Cameron Norrie, who is currently ranked 42nd in the world. So far this year he has only beaten one top 50 player which was Alex de Minaur who was No.11 in the standings when they clashed at the Madrid Masters.
