Rafael Nadal had the Nordea Open crowd laughing with his reaction upon learning a new nickname for his doubles alliance with Casper Ruud. The 38-year-old is enjoying himself in Bastad, still competing in both the singles and doubles on his return to action after his French Open disappointment in May.
Nadal has formed an all-star partnership with Ruud in the Nordea Open doubles, and they have won their opening two matches.
The pair beat Mexico’s Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela and Guido Andreozzi of Argentina, the second seeds, 6-1 6-4 in the first round earlier this week.
On Wednesday, they survived a match point to win a dramatic quarter-final clash against French duo Theo Arribage and Roman Safiullin.
Nadal and Ruud took the first set 6-4 but dropped the second 3-6 before finding themselves trailing 9-10 in the match tie-break.
They picked up the next three points, though, to seal passage into the semi-finals in Sweden.
Nadal entertained the exciting crowd just as much after the match as during it with his response to learning a new nickname for his Scandinavian alliance with Norway’s Ruud.
The interviewer ended his line of questioning by asking: “Rafa, I’ve seen around here signs that are saying your new nickname, Ruudal. What do you think of it?!”
But Nadal, with a smile on his face, was visibly confused and needed the interviewer to explain the meaning behind ‘Ruudal’ after responding: “What?! What is this?”
He still didn’t grasp it, though, turning to Ruud, standing alongside him on the court, in confusion before the 25-year-old clarified the point.
After realising what had been said, Nadal laughed and recalled his iconic relationship with Roger Federer, adding: “Well, yes, I have Fedal and now Ruudal, so, both!”
The Spaniard is gearing up to face British fifth seed Cameron Norrie in the second round of the singles on Thursday after defeating Sweden’s Leo Borg 6-3 6-4.
After he reached the doubles semi-final with Ruud, Nadal explained: “I think we had some fun. It has been an emotional match at the end, a good level of tennis against two good players.
“We enjoy it and the crowd was amazing, a full crowd in a doubles match, that’s fantastic. Just enjoying every single day here.”
Ruud, who suffered a first-round singles defeat to Thiago Monteiro earlier in the day, then joked: “When you cannot win singles, you have to try to win doubles.
“It was not the best beginning of the day but a very nice way to finish the day for me. Winning alongside Rafa was a special doubles today. We saved a match point, so a bit lucky, and we look forward to the next match.”