2024 ATP Tour – ATP 250
Nordea Open
Bastad Tennis Centre
Selected RO16 matches – 18 July
Rafa Nadal 52/100 | Cameron Norrie 29/20
Rafa Nadal’s long-awaited return to singles action never disappointed, with the former World No.1 taking down Leo Borg (son of the great Bjorn Borg) in straight sets.
Nadal decided to skip the grass-court campaign altogether this season, choosing to recuperate from the muscle injuries that afflicted him earlier this year.
And he did show some understandable signs of rustiness against Borg, tumbling behind the baseline in just the 12th minute of the match. Nadal, playing for the first time here since winning the title back in 2005, slowly grew into the match, looking more and more penetrative in the wet, heavy conditions.
The win improved his 2024 record to 8-5 and it will be interesting to see how he approaches this latter portion of the season. He is participating in the doubles section alongside Casper Rudd, playing with the type of joyful exuberance usually reserved for exhibition matches.
Could the end be coming sooner than we think for Nadal? Perhaps at the Olympic games?
Next up for Nadal is fellow lefty Cameron Norrie. The Brit has really failed to kick on since his brilliant 2022 Wimbledon semi-final run, arguably playing a few too many events over the past three years.
He is a pugnacious fighter who doesn’t necessarily blow opponents away. He has endured a difficult campaign, not going beyond the 4th round of a slam whilst also not progressing beyond the third round of a Masters 1000 event.
He also recently relinquished his British No.1 spot to Jack Draper (though he did pick up that morale-boosting win at Wimbledon). Still, he looked quite composed in his opener, needing just an hour and 35 minutes to see off Jozef Kovalik in straight sets.
The Brit served brilliantly throughout the match but he required six looks before securing a break-point (which also happened to be match point). Norrie has a habit of upsetting top players on clay, memorably downing Carlos Alcaraz in the 2023 Rio final.
The Verdict: Nadal to win in three at 11/4
Nadal leads their head-to-head rivalry 4-1 (this despite the fact that they only had their first meeting in 2021). Nadal has won both their clay-court meetings and has dominated the Brit in the twilight stages of his career.
Norrie should stand a chance given Nadal’s lack of match fitness. But Nadal just got better and better against Borg, hitting 24 winners in heavy conditions.