Nadal Eyes Olympic Gold Despite Disappointing Bastad Final

Rafael Nadal, the legendary Spanish tennis player, has set his sights on winning a third Olympic gold medal at the upcoming Paris Olympics. However, after a disappointing loss in the Bastad clay-court final, Nadal acknowledged that his performance was far from satisfactory.

Nadal, now 38 years old, succumbed to a straight-sets defeat against Portuguese journeyman Nuno Borges. It was his first final appearance since claiming his 14th French Open title in 2022.

"The level was so far from what it should be. Probably the energy too," Nadal admitted. "It has been a long week with long matches. Even if my body, I don'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."

This tournament marked Nadal's return to competitive play after an early exit at the French Open in May. He opted to skip Wimbledon to concentrate on his clay-court skills in preparation for the Olympics, which will be held at Roland Garros, the site of 14 of his 22 Grand Slam victories.

At the Games, Nadal aims to add to his singles gold from the 2008 Beijing Olympics and his doubles triumph in Rio in 2016. In Paris, he will team up with French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz for the doubles event.

"I played the final, that's positive. I was able to play long matches without having an injury, that's good," Nadal said of his performance in Sweden.

Despite reaching the final, Nadal expressed dissatisfaction with his overall level of play. "In some way I felt that I arrived here practicing much better than what I played on the tournament during the whole week. That's something that I am not satisfied with," he explained.

"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."

Nadal has only participated in six tournaments in 2023 due to injuries, and his ranking has dropped to 261. "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."

Tags: #RafaelNadal, #ParisOlympics, #Tennis, #ClayCourt, #BastadFinal