Rafael Nadal teamed with Casper Ruud to notch a 6-1 6-4 Swedish Open doubles victory against second seeds Guido Andreozzi and Miguel Reyes-Varela on Monday in a successful return, live on Sky Sports.
Competing at the ATP 250 for the first time since he lifted the singles title as a 19-year-old in 2005, Nadal immediately looked at home on the Swedish clay.
The victory was Nadal's first competitive match since he fell to Alexander Zverev on May 27 in the opening round at Roland Garros. The 22-time Grand Slam champion will take on Leo Borg, son of ATP legend Bjorn Borg, in his opening singles match on Tuesday, live on Sky Sports Tennis.
"It's a pleasure playing with a good friend and an amazing player like Casper here in Bastad," said Nadal in the pair's on-court interview. "Personally, I am happy and I think it was a good match. We played quite well in the first time we played together and I'm happy to be back here after almost 20 years.
"I have great memories from this place from 2003, 2004 and 2005, so I am enjoying this week and hopefully can keep going."
With both the Spaniard and Ruud striking their groundstrokes powerfully throughout, the wildcard pairing powered to a 79-minute win that was twice interrupted by passing rain showers.
The 22-time major champion Nadal and the world No 8 ranked Ruud will take on Mariano Navone and Britain's Cameron Norrie or Theo Arribage and Roman Safiullin in the second round.
"Like Rafa said, I think it was a good match. When it comes to the rain delays, I'm used to it more than Rafa, being from Norway and he is from Spain," said Ruud.
The Norwegian light-heartedly added: "He is getting old so I'm not sure how his body feels when he has to stop and start all the time, but he did well. We played good doubles and it was a lot of fun to share the court with Rafa as always."
Britain's Norrie through to singles second round with victory
Britain's Cam Norrie is through to the second round of the singles at the Swedish Open, having defeated Slovakia's Jozef Kovalik 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 on Monday.
The fifth seed moves through to the next round in Bastad, and will face the winner of Nadal or Borg in that clash.
Norrie has endured a disappointing 2024 so far, falling to fourth round (Australian Open), first round (French Open) and third round (Wimbledon) exits at the Grand Slams, while also failing to get past the third round of any ATP Masters 1000 event.
The 28-year-old also lost his place as British No 1 to Jack Draper. He is seeking a fourth ATP 250 series title of his career so far, though his most recent title came in February 2023.
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