Nadal rates his Bastad showing a modest success

Rafael Nadal contained his disappointment at losing to a Portuguese outsider in the Bastad title match, giving his finals performance on Sunday a passing grade.

“The level was so far from what it should be,” the 22-time Grand Slam winner said of his 6-3, 6-2 loss to Nuno Borges in the Swedish final

“It’s been a long week with long matches. Even if my body, (doesn’t) have damage, that’s important .

“But mentally and physically, I am not used to playing four days in a row and playing long matches.”

Nadal competed in Bastad – which he won 19 years ago – after missing much of recent seasons with various injury problems. His last outing before Bastad was a first-round loss at Roland Garros.

“”I need to analyse well and find the reason why I played that way, even if the energy was not right,” the 38-year-old said.

“A lot of things that can’t happen on court if you want to play at the level that I want to play. Things like this can happen today, and that’s the situation. I don’t have to lie or hide anything.”

Nadal said his opponent deserved the title victory: “He converted opportunities, so well done for him, happy for him. 

“He deserved it more than the rest of the players who played in this tournament. I wish him to enjoy this great moment.”
Nadal, who skipped Wiimbledon so as not to compete on grass with the clay-court Paris Olympic starting on Friday, will now turn his attention to the Games and his doubles date with Carlos Alcaraz.

His Bastad showing gives him a confidence boost: “I played the final, that’s positive. I was able to play long matches without having an injury, that’s good.

“In some way I felt that I arrived here practising much better than what I played on the tournament during the whole week. That’s something that I am not satisfied with. 

I arrived here with the feeling that I was playing a good level and I was not able to show that during the whole week. That is something that I am not happy with.

“Anyway it’s a final, so I can’t say it’s a bad result because it’s the first final since a long time ago. 

“But I was not able to feel myself comfortable enough during the whole week to be satisfied with the week of tennis that I played.”