Rafael Nadal will head to the Paris Olympics chasing a third gold medal but admitted his “level was so far from what it should be” after losing in the Bastad clay-court final on Sunday. The 38-year-old Spanish great went down to a straight-sets defeat to Portuguese journeyman Nuno Borges in his first final since capturing a 14th French Open in 2022. “The level was so far from what it should be. Probably the energy too,” said Nadal.

“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. 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. 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.”