Rafael Nadal has indicated he could be forced to withdraw from the Bastad Open after prevailing in a four-hour marathon against Mariano Navone on Friday. The tennis icon made it through to his first semi-final in any competition since 2022, but he was forced to dig deep to overcome the fourth seed Navone, who took him all the way in their quarter-final tie.
The 38-year-old was on court for nearly four hours on the Swedish coast as Navone refused to back down, recovering from a double break in the final set before the legendary Spaniard sealed a 6-7, 7-5, 7-5 success. It was his second-longest ATP three-set match of his career, only dwarfed by his thriller against Novak Djokovic in 2009.
Nadal is due to play in the men’s doubles semi-final with Casper Ruud against Brazilian pair Orlando Luiz and Rafael Matos, but his comments appeared to suggest he could prioritise his recovery for the singles’ semi against Duje Adjukovic on Saturday.
“I wasn’t focused during the whole time. I was up 5-2, so I lost for some moments the concentration,” Nadal said in his post-match interview on court. “I was able to hold physically until the end. Let’s see how I am tomorrow. Today I’m alive and I’m in the semi=finals. So that’s super important. I can’t thank enough all the support here in Bastad.”
In the first set, the veteran Spaniard had to dig deep, saving two set points to come back from 4-5 and 15-40 down to break back. But Nadal lost the first set tiebreak to go a set down, which after 85 minutes on the clay represented a huge setback for the 38-year-old.
He found the going tough against the world No 29 in the second set, with Navone proving to be an equal match in getting about the court.
Nadal might have been heading for a second consecutive tiebreak after going 0-30 down with a 6-5 lead, but he showed his mettle to win the next three points to claim his first set point. With the chance to draw level and force a decider, he made no mistake, pushing Navone to the baseline before smashing home from the net to take the third set 7-5.
With two and a half hours already gone, the players would be in for a gruelling finale in the Swedish sun.
The Argentinian was beginning to dominate the play as he managed to keep his energy levels up, and had the chance to lock down the break at 2-0 and 40-0 up. But he struggled to get over the line and crucially, Nadal was able to bring the match back on serve at 1-2 before winning the next four games.
At 5-2 up and serving for the match, Nadal probably felt he finally had it in the bag but went on to lose the next three games as Navone brought it back level. However, the 23-year-old squandered a chance to retake the lead as he was broken again, and Nadal finally clinched victory with three hours and 58 minutes on the clock.
Nadal had nothing but praise afterwards for Navone, who at 23 looked to be one of the rising stars on the ATP circuit as he refused to throw in the towel against the 22-time Grand Slam winner.
“Without a doubt, it’s been very close. I’m tired! There’s been a lot of changing dynamics in every single set, he was in control, one moment I was in control At the end, no one was in control, that’s the truth,” Nadal added.
“I had a good chance in the second with the 2-0 [lead] and I was very close to losing the match in the second set, again with the 5-2 [in the third set]. He [Navone] is a great fighter and I wish him all the very best for the rest of the season.”
