Tennis Briefing: Rafael Nadal’s first final in two years and Fils’ underarm serve

Welcome to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where The Athletic will explain the story behind the stories from the last week on court.

This week, the transition from Wimbledon’s grass to the Roland Garros clay for the Olympics began in earnest, with players seeking to find their feet on the Parisian terre battue. After six weeks of slip-and-slide, it’s time to just slide again.

Rafael Nadal ran out of steam in his first run to a final since 2022; there were double bounces and frosty handshakes; a new mixed grass event — during Wimbledon — and more.

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Is this progress for Rafael Nadal?

In losing 6-3, 6-2 to Portugal’s Nuno Borges in Bastad, Sweden, Rafael Nadal achieved his best ATP tournament result since summer 2022, when he beat Casper Ruud in straight sets to win his 14th French Open title.

To get to the final against Borges, Nadal won two three-set matches in a row, one of which was a four-hour grind against fellow clay specialist Mariano Navone of Argentina. Nadal coughed up a 5-2 lead in the deciding set and said he was “alive” after the kind of victory that has looked implausible for the duration of his return to tennis.

The physicality he has been able to show will be encouraging, but after his body has been a limiting factor for so long, the signs in Sweden were that his actual tennis may be replacing it as that limiting factor. The close three-set defeat to Alexander Zverev in the first round of the French Open was a world away from the final against Borges, in which Nadal never got near causing his opponent any problems.

Nadal’s run to the final in Bastad was built more on endurance than domination (Adam Ihse/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)

During his comeback, which began in April at the Banc Sabadell Open in Barcelona, Nadal has spoken about “good feelings” in his body being key, but after this match, his focus was very much on his level.

“I had good feelings in training, but I couldn’t translate them to the matches,” he said in a post-match press conference.

“The level of play was far from what I had in training. I have to play much better to be competitive.”

This is the nub for the Spaniard. At some point, the 22-time Grand Slam champion has to face the world No 161 that he is now, head-on. Players of that ranking do not tend to win titles, or get to finals, or blow players away on the court. Nadal appears, for now, to have figured out the fitness part of the dance he is undergoing during his comeback. Next comes the pride.

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Those are the breaks

A tale of two finals. In a heavyweight clash between Zheng Qinwen and Karolina Muchova in Palermo, there were 27 break points in 28 service games played. Muchova, continuing her return from injury, saved 63 per cent of the break points she faced; Zheng just 37.5 per cent.

The winner? Zheng, because Muchova saving 63 per cent of 19 break points still means getting broken seven times in 14 service games, as opposed to five breaks of Zheng’s serve. The top seed triumphed against the No 2 seed 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, defending the 250 title in Palermo for the third of her career.

The top seed came through the battle of the breaks (Gabriele Maricchiolo/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

In Hamburg, a very different story — featuring an underarm serve and a frosty handshake. Alexander Zverev and Arthur Fils both broke each other’s serve just once, Fils taking a quarter of his opportunities and Zverev five per cent. He had 22 break points and won one. One of the ones he lost looked like this:

Fils went on to dominate the deciding tiebreak, winning 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(1), occasioning a cold handshake at the net from the German. “Making one out of 22 break points doesn’t necessarily help,” Zverev said at the opening of his press conference. He is not wrong.

Will double-bounce drama hasten video replay?

Zverev joined Daniil Medvedev (Wimbledon) and Coco Gauff (French Open) in calling for increased technology in tennis after a set point went against him earlier in the tournament. Facing Frenchman Hugo Gaston, Zverev hit a short backhand smash when facing going a set behind. Gaston dug the ball up, but it appeared to bounce twice, despite the umpire not calling it as such. Gaston promptly passed Zverev to win the point and the German was less than impressed.

After the match, Zverev paraphrased a by-now familiar sequence of pleasantries after an apparent officiating mistake: it was bad; it shouldn’t have happened; but umpires are humans, so why don’t we let technology decide? Whether or not the sport will listen is another question.

More changes to the tennis calendar are afoot in Rhode Island

The Hall of Fame Open in Newport, Rhode Island, will become a mixed ATP Challenger and WTA 125 event from 2025, dropping down from the tour-level ATP 250 event held at the Tennis Hall of Fame since 1976. The tournament will also move from its current slot the week after Wimbledon to align with the Grand Slam’s second week, curtailing the already short grass-court season by a further week.

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It joins Queen’s Club in London in becoming a mixed event: that tournament will be both an ATP and WTA 500-level tournament from 2025. America’s Marcos Giron took home the final instalment of Newport’s current guise, beating compatriot Alex Michelsen in three sets for his first ATP title. The decision to reclassify the event came in late 2023 when the ATP chose to remove Atlanta (the last edition of which started today, Monday, July 22) and Lyon from the calendar, promoting ATP 250 events in Dallas, Doha, and Munich to 500-level status.

🏆 The winners of the week

🎾 ATP: 

🏆 Arthur Fils def. Alexander Zverev 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(1) to win the Hamburg Open (500) in Hamburg, Germany. It is Fils’ first ATP 500 title.
🏆 Nuno Borges def. Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-2 to win the Nordea Open (250) in Bastad, Sweden. It is the Portuguese’s first ATP Tour title.
🏆 Marcos Giron def. Alex Michelsen 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-5 to win the Hall of Fame Open (250) in Newport, Rhode Island USA. It is the American’s first ATP Tour title.
🏆 Matteo Berrettini def. Quentin Halys 6-3, 6-1 to win the Swiss Open (250) in Gstaad, Switzerland. It is the Italian’s ninth ATP Tour title.

🎾 WTA:

🏆 Zheng Qinwen def. Karolina Muchova 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to win the Palermo Ladies Open (250) in Palermo, Italy. It is her third WTA Tour title.
🏆 Diana Shnaider def. Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-4, 6-4 to win the Hungarian Grand Prix (250) in Budapest, Hungary. It is Shnaider’s first clay-court title, meaning she has now won a WTA title on all three surfaces.

📈📉 On the rise / Down the line

📈 Diana Shnaider ascends five places from No 28 to No 23. It is her highest career ranking to date.
📈 Arthur Fils moves up eight places from No 28 to No 20, for his highest career ranking to date.
📈 Karolina Muchova gets back into the top 30, rising six places from No 35 to No 29.
📈 Rafael Nadal rises 100 places, from No 261 to No 161.

📉 Adrian Mannarino falls out of the top 30, falling seven places from No 25 to No 32.
📉 In one of the few weeks that she hasn’t made a WTA final lately, Mayar Sherif falls 20 places from No 67 to No 87.

📅 Coming up

🎾 ATP: 

📍 Umag, Croatia: Croatia Open Umag (250) featuring Andrey Rublev, Tomas Machac, Jakub Mensik, Lorenzo Musetti
📍 Atlanta: Atlanta Open Open (250) featuring Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe, Reilly Opelka, Jerry Shang
📍 Kitzbuhel, Austria: Generali Open (250) featuring Dominic Thiem, Alejandro Tabilo, Matteo Berrettini, Sebastian Baez

🎾 WTA:

📍 Prague: Prague Open (250) featuring Linda Noskova, Katerina Siniakova, Eva Lys, Jessica Bouzas Maneiro
📍 Iasi, Romania: Iasi Open (250) featuring Mirra Andreeva, Olga Danilovic, Jaqueline Cristian, Elina Avanesyan

Tell us what you noticed this week in the comments, as the tours continue.

(Top photo: Adam Ihse/TT’/AFP via Getty Images; Design: Eamonn Dalton)