Nadal beats Borg Jr at Nordea Open

BASTAD: Rafael Nadal returned to singles action with a 6-3, 6-4 victory on clay over Leo Borg, the 21-year-old son of Swedish great Bjorn Borg, in the first round of the Nordea Open in Bastad on Tuesday.

“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,” Nadal said about his 21-year-old opponent. “I think he played quite well, he has a future in front so I wish him all the very best.”

Nadal won the singles title in southern Sweden as a 19-yearold in 2005 and this week is his first time back since then as he prepares for the Olympic tournament on clay at Roland Garros in Paris.

Nadal was playing his first singles match since he lost in the first round of the French Open to Alexander Zverev. He teamed up with Casper Ruud on Monday to win a first-round doubles match.

The 38-year-old Nadal skipped Wimbledon as he didn’t want to switch surface to grass and then back to clay and risk injury. He has been dealing with hip and abdominal injuries over the past 1 1/2 years.

Nadal will next face British

No. 2 Cameron Norrie.

Meanwhile, the Spaniard is among those on the main draw entry lists revealed on Tuesday for the 2024 US Open that begins on August 26.

Nadal has played the US Open only once, in 2022, since winning his fourth New York hardcourt crown in 2019.

He was among 14 players to claim a main-draw spot with a protected ranking.

Nadal won the US Open in 2010 to complete a career Grand Slam and added US Open titles in 2013, 2017 and 2019. He reached the fourth round in 2022 but has played in only two Slams since, never going past the second round. World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, this year’s Australian Open champion from Italy, and top-ranked Iga Swiatek, who captured her third consecutive French Open title in June, pace the men’s and women’s fields.

When he first discussed the likelihood that 2024 would be his final season as a professional tennis player, Nadal made sure to refer to the Paris Olympics as “one of the important competitions I would like to be at.”

If, indeed, this is his last hurrah, it would be fitting that the site of the French Open is also the site of this goodbye.