Rafael Nadal could not get a fairytale ending to his impressive Swedish Open campaign as he lost to Nuno Borges 6-3, 6-2 at the clay-court ATP 250 on Sunday.
Nadal, 37, has been struggling greatly with injuries since the start of last year and the Spaniard made it to his first final in Bastad since French Open 2022 but could not compete at the highest level against Borges.
Borges was on top from the start and dominated Nadal, who could only five games in the two-set match and ended up losing the final.
“Many congratulations to Nuno,” said Nadal at the trophy ceremony. “You’ve been playing great during the whole week, so you deserve it more than anyone else here. Congratulations and enjoy your moment, it’s always special winning a title. I wish you all the very best for the rest of the season.
“I have been here for the week enjoying this amazing place. I really had fun on court, played some very long matches. Today wasn’t my best day, but all the credit to Nuno. He played very well and it was so difficult for me, so well done.”
Meanwhile, Borges clinched his maiden ATP title and admitted that just like everyone he too wanted Nadal to win but something inside him pushed him to win the title.
“I don’t know what to say. I think I was wishing for this moment for a while already,” said Borges in his post-match interview. “It’s crazy, in tennis it doesn’t happen when you expect it sometimes. I know we all wanted Rafa to win, a part of me wished that too, but something even bigger inside of me really pushed through today. Through all the emotions, through all the ups and downs.
“It wasn’t about playing my best tennis, it was just coming up in the big moments where I wanted, and I couldn’t have played better. I’m just really happy overall. I really don’t know what to say, I’m very emotional.”
