Nadal vs. Borg sounds like a fantasy matchup between two clay-court giants who have combined to win 20 Roland Garros titles. And Nadal will face Borg in Bastad at the Nordea Open.
But it will be Rafael Nadal taking on Leo Borg, the 21-year-old son of former No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings Bjorn Borg. The pair of wild cards trained together on Friday ahead of the ATP 250 event.
“It was crazy because we were looking when they did the draw and my name just popped up against Rafa,” Borg said. “I’m feeling very excited and it’s going to be a great match.”
Borg explained that Nadal is one of the reasons he picked up a tennis racquet when he was a kid. Now he is looking forward to competing against the 92-time tour-level titlist.
“It was a very good practice and of course he’s been my idol since I was very young, so it’s going to be a very special moment in my career,” Borg said. “But I’m looking forward to that and I’m feeling really, really excited.”
Nadal has competed in Bastad on three previous occasions, most recently in 2005, when he lifted the trophy. The 38-year-old will pursue his first title of the season this week. Borg earned his lone ATP Tour match win last year in Bastad against Elias Ymer.
The top seed is defending champion Andrey Rublev, who will begin his tournament against Thiago Agustin Tirante or a qualifier. The second seed is Casper Ruud, who will face Federico Coria or Thiago Monteiro in the second round.
Nadal and Ruud are competing together in the doubles draw. They will open against second seeds Guido Andreozzi and Miguel Reyes-Varela.
Zverev leads Hamburg field
Top seed Alexander Zverev is defending his title on home soil at the Hamburg Open. The German will face a qualifier and is seeded to meet Francisco Cerundolo in the semi-finals. In the bottom half, second seed Holger Rune begins against Fabian Marozsan.
Tsitsipas headlines Gstaad draw
Stefanos Tsitsipas will play Swiss wild card Marc-Andrea Huesler or Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF champion Hamad Medjedovic in his opening match at the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad. Matteo Berrettini is in the same half as Tsitsipas and starts against Pedro Cachin. Stan Wawrinka takes on Lukas Klein.
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