Rafael Nadal’s pre-Olympic schedule ‘makes sense’, says Andy Roddick as ATP 250 event hits the jackpot

Rafael Nadal’s decision to sign up for the Swedish Open is a shrewd gambit by the Spaniard with former world No 1 Andy Roddick saying he needs match practice ahead of the Olympics.

Tennis great Nadal has played only a handful of matches since returning to competitive tennis at the start of the year with his most recent outing a first-round defeat to Alexander Zverev at Roland Garros.

While the rest of the tennis world has switched to grass, the 22-time Grand Slam winner has opted to skip the campaign meaning he will miss Wimbledon as he wants to focus on the 2024 Paris Games, which will be staged on the clay at his beloved Roland Garros.

“We believe that the best for my body is not to change surface and keep playing on clay until then. It’s for this reason that I will miss playing at the Championships this year at Wimbledon,” Nadal said in a statement.

“I am saddened not to be able to live this year the great atmosphere of that amazing event that will always be in my heart, and be with all the British fans that always gave me great support. I will miss you all.”

With a two-month gap between the French Open and Paris Olympics, Nadal has decided to sign up for the Swedish Open and it will be his first appearance at the event since 2005 – when he won the title as a 19-year-old.

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Former US Open champion Roddick admits organisers of the ATP 250 event probably couldn’t believe their luck when Nadal entered, but sees it as an excellent move by the Spaniard.

“I’m sure the organisers of the tournament are super disappointed, and they definitely had Rafa playing Bastad when he was hurt, like in December of last year, on their bingo card,” he started off sarcastically on the Tennis Channel.

“This is great and listen you can’t … just no matter how great you are it’s tough to just waltz into the Olympics and play that level of tennis with, you know, a two-month gap in between.

“This makes sense as far as tennis [is concerned], and for the life of me, I never thought we’d see Rafa in Bastad again, but great. Tennis is tennis, this is awesome.”

Nadal is not the only high-profile player to enter as current world No 1 Jannik Sinner as well as defending champion Andrey Rublev and 2021 winner Casper Ruud have signed up.

2014 Wimbledon runner-up and Tennis Channel analyst Eugenie Bouchard feels it would have been difficult for Nadal to switch from clay to grass and back to clay.

The Canadian added: “I definitely agree with that. Good for him on going to play Bastad. I do think that with the transition after Wimbledon after the grass will be tricky for his body, but he loves the clay. So I feel like that transition can actually be smooth for him. “