Rafa Nadal may not be happy with the level of his tennis play in his first final since winning the 2022 Roland Garros title, but the injury-plagued Spaniard said it was important to avoid injuries in Bastad ahead of the Paris Olympics.

The 38-year-old, who missed almost the entire 2023 season with a hip problem and was limited to six events this year due to a muscle tear and fitness issues, lost 6-3 6-2 to seventh-seeded Portuguese Nuno Borges in the final of the Swedish Open on Sunday.

After beating fifth-seeded Cameron Norrie on Thursday, Nadal won tough matches in three sets against fourth-seeded Mariano Navone and Duje Ajdukovic in the next two rounds. He seemed to feel the effects in the final.

“The level was so far from what it should be. Probably also the energy. It was a long week with long matches,” Nadal told reporters.

“Even though I have no physical damage, that’s important – but mentally and physically I’m not used to playing four days in a row and playing long matches.

“I have to analyze well and find the reason why I played that way, even if the energy was not good… These kinds of things can happen, and that’s the situation. I don’t have to lie or hide anything.”

Nadal decided to skip Wimbledon this month to prepare for the Olympic Games on the clay courts of Roland Garros, where he has won 14 of his 22 Grand Slam singles titles.

The former world number one, who expects to retire at the end of this year, won an Olympic gold medal in singles in 2008 and gold in doubles in 2016.

He will play alongside Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz in the doubles event in Paris, where the Olympic tennis tournament takes place from July 27 to August 4. REUTERS