Rafael Nadal returned to the clay courts in Bastad, Sweden, for the first time in 19 years by teaming up with Casper Ruud to win a first-round doubles match at the Nordea Open on Monday.
Nadal won the singles title in southern Sweden as a 19-year-old in 2005, and this is his first time back since then as he prepares for the Olympic tournament on clay at Roland Garros in Paris.
Nadal and Ruud won against second-seeded Guido Andreozzi and Miguel Reyes-Varela 6-1, 6-4 in front of a packed crowd that came to see the 38-year-old Spaniard play his first tour match since May when he lost in the first round of the French Open to Alexander Zverev.
He 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 1½ years.
Nadal is set to play Leo Borg, son of Swedish great Bjorn Borg, in the first round of the Bastad singles tournament on Tuesday.