Rafael Nadal, 38, has withdrawn from the doubles event because to physical concerns following back-to-back extremely taxing and exhaustive singles battles. As a result, he will not be playing his Bastad doubles match with Casper Ruud today. Nadal faced another demanding encounter Wednesday, recovering from a set behind to defeat Duje Ajdukovic 4-6 6-3 6-4 in little than two hours of play to secure a Bastad final spot. The day before, Nadal had defeated Mariano Navone in a three-set thriller that just lasted four hours.
The prevailing consensus and assumption was that Nadal would most likely skip his and Ruud’s doubles semifinal match against Orlando Luz and Rafael Matos after spending more than six hours on the court over the previous two days. And that’s exactly what happened, as the 38-year-old Spaniard tries to be healthy for tomorrow’s championship match against Thiago Agustin Tirante or Nuno Borges.
Prior to the withdrawal, Nadal and Ruud triumphed over Guido Andreozzi and Miguel Reyes-Varela in their debut encounter as a doubles team. They then held off Theo Arribage and Roman Safiullin 6-4 3-6 12-10 in the quarterfinals, saving a match point.
Nadal will play in his first singles final since the 2022 French Open when he returns to the court on Sunday. Being back in a final is always an amazing feeling. I had won four straight games, which I haven’t done since two years ago. After defeating Ajdukovic, Rafael Nadal remarked, “A lot of things happened, but still in this recovering process, a lot of things I lost, because I had a very important hip surgery almost one year ago.”
Things weren’t going well, but I’m persevering. I think matchups like yesterday’s and today’s help to improve a lot of things on court, and I am fighting the entire tournament to be where I am. That makes me happy, and tomorrow I’ll try to play a little bit better. This week has already been quite busy for Nadal, who is well-prepared for the Olympics in Paris.
