Rafael Nadal missed the chance to win his first title in more than 2 years when he lost to Nuno Borges in the 2024 Swedish Open final on the evening of July 21.
The Spanish legend lost 3-6, 2-6 to his Portuguese opponent at the Nordea Open in Bastad. This is also Nadal's first final since he won the 2022 French Open.
In the final, Nadal made many mistakes and had difficulty imposing his position on the 7th seed, who had the first ATP title of his career.
With this victory, Borges became the fifth player to defeat Nadal in a clay court final. He will increase 9 places to No. 42 in the world in his career when the ATP rankings are announced today (July 22).
For Nadal, he could have climbed to 135th position on the rankings if he won this ATP 250 tournament. Even so, Rafa still made a significant leap forward.
Starting last week at world No. 261, thanks to reaching the final and 165 points won, Nadal rose 101 places to No. 161 in the ATP rankings.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion won his 131st ATP singles final and 72nd on clay.
Before Borges, only Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic , Horacio Zeballos and Andy Murray were male players who had overcome the 'King of Clay' on his favorite surface in the final.
Nadal's record in clay court championship matches is currently 63-9.
By reaching the final in Bastad, Nadal became the first player to appear in tour finals 20 seasons apart. Nadal reached his first ATP final in Auckland in January 2004.
At the top of the rankings, the position remains unchanged as Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, and Daniil Medvedev respectively hold the top 5 positions.
Notably, Arthur Fils jumped 8 places to enter the Top 20 for the first time at the age of 20, after the Frenchman won the ATP 500 championship in Hamburg.
Former No. 6 Matteo Berrettini also made a leap, rising 32 places after winning the Swiss Open, returning to the Top 50 for the first time since August last year.
Top 10 male tennis players
1.Jannik Sinner: 9,570 points
2.Novak Djokovic: 8,460 points
3. Carlos Alcaraz : 8,130 points
4.Alexander Zverev: 7,295 points
5.Daniil Medvedev: 6,525 points
6.Alex de Minaur: 4,185 points
7.Hubert Hurkacz: 4,105 points
8.Casper Ruud: 3,925 points
9.Andrey Rublev: 3,830 points
10.Grigor Dimitrov: 3,770 points
