“Defending my 2005 title here,” Rafael Nadal shows his funny side as he reaches Bastad final after 19 years – FirstSportz

22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal is back in the final after more than two years. On Saturday he came back from behind to Duje Ajdukovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at the Nordea Open. This is his first final since Roland Garros in 2022.

Nadal shared a funny memory on Instagram, where he talked about his title win in 2005 in Bastad. He hopes to win his first ATP title of the season on Sunday.

Very happy to be in a final again and… 19 years later in the final here in Bastad. As I jokingly said, when I defended my title here from 2005….(laughing emoticon).

Rafael Nadal wrote on Instagram

Nadal had a tough match against Mariano Navone on Friday. It took him four hours to win. On Saturday, the 38-year-old faced Croatian qualifier Ajdukovic for the first time. After losing the first set and his serve early in the second set, he broke the qualifier’s serve five times in the last two sets.

Nadal also lost a double-break lead in the final set. Ajdukovic came back from 0-3 to 3-3. But ‘Nadal, the King of Clay, broke his serve again and held his own to win the match. The semi-final lasted two hours and 13 minutes.

Rafael Nadal withdraws from men’s doubles with Casper Ruud in Bastad

Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the doubles event at the Swedish Open. The decision came shortly after securing a place in the singles final by beating Duje Ajdukovic. The 22-time Grand Slam champion will now face Nuno Borges in the final in Bastad.

During a post-match press conference, Nadal said he will not play in doubles with Casper Ruud. They were scheduled to play Orlando Luz and Rafael Matos in the semi-finals. The left-hander wants to save his energy for the singles final.

Nadal played more than six hours of tennis between Friday and Saturday. His quarterfinal victory over Mariano Navone was a match that lasted almost four hours.

As for Nadal’s doubles, he will next be in action at the Olympic Games in Paris. The 38-year-old will team up with four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz for Spain.

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