The level was so far from what it should be – Rafael Nadal after Bastad Open final loss

Rafael Nadal admitted he was far from his best in the Bastad Open final after his 6-3, 6-2 defeat to Nuno Borges on Sunday. However, the Spaniard also looked at the positives as he had a great week in the Nordea Open and was able to go through the tournament without any injury concern.

The 22-time Grand Slam won against Cameron Norrie in straight sets but he had to battle it out against fourth seed Mariano Navone and Duje Ajdukovic in three set contest on Friday and Saturday. The long matches did take a toll on Nadal’s body and he admitted he isn’t used to it in the last two years.

“The level was so far from what it should be,” he said of his display on Sunday. “Probably the energy too. 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.”

Nadal said he needs to go back to the drawing board and analyse his performance against the Portuguese.

“The level was so far from what it should be,” he said of his display on Sunday. “Probably the energy too. 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.”

Speaking on the positives, Nadal said, “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.”

Nadal will now be seen in action in the upcoming Paris Olympics