#nordea open

[schumi-nadal]

THIS. IS. ICONIC.

[thelionsship]

📢 [ RUUUUUUUUUUDAL ] ‼️

[fear-hope-soup]

[janesurlife]

Tell me clay isn't the most beautiful surface... I dare you

[stateofsport211]

Bastad MD QF: Rafael Nadal/Casper Ruud [WC] def. Theo Arribage/Roman Safiullin 6-4, 3-6, [12-10] Match Stats

📸 BeIN Sports ID

T. Arribage/Roman absorbed Ruudal's pace steadily in the second set, and their levels clashed in the match tie-break, where it came down to a few shots. The latter's tidy point construction and pace helped them to nail the match tie-breaker, ultimately going after Roman's more vulnerable stroked toward the end as the wild cards tried to remain consistent in their range. Even outside of the match tie-breaker, Ruudal converted 66% of their 3 break points as they maximized their chances through their shot placement finish compared to T. Arribage/Roman's 50% break point conversion rate out of their 4 chances to break.

Besides, it appeared that both pairs had distinct service game strengths. Landing 72% of their first serves, T. Arribage/Roman won 76% of their first serve points even though both pairs scored an ace, 8% more than Ruudal as their level-raise in the second set, as well as the match tie-break. However, even though both players double-faulted four times, Ruudal had more reliable second serves as they won 65% of their second serve points, 36% more than T. Arribage/Roman as the match progressed.

In the semifinals, Ruudal will face the winner between Pavel Kotov/Piotr Matuszewski and third seeds Orlando Luz/Marcelo Zormann. In a similar manner to this match, this would test their point construction and their balance of power in general, with shot placement and pacing could also be as crucial as this quarterfinal match. Should be another fun match to look forward to!

[interstallerrr]

Let'sss gooo ruudal to the semi's 😻🔥🔥

[dear-science]

seriously who looks happier here than Casper in 2nd place 😭

ph. @liljasinstagram

lmaooo 😭😭

[rafaelnadalfans]

Rafael Nadal to Face Bjorn Borg’s Son Leo in 2024 Nordea Open Opener

Photo: HMBxMedia/AntonioxBorga The 2024 Nordea Open draw has been made earlier today. Rafael Nadal will start his campaign in Bastad against Leo Borg, the son of legendary Swede Bjorn Borg. If Rafa gets through his first match, he will likely meet Cameron Norrie in the second round, with Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev potentially waiting in the semi-final and final,…

[schumi-nadal]

“I have Fedal and now, Ruudal“ is definitely the best tennis quote of this season

[janesurlife]

They're as shameless as me 😜

[stateofsport211]

Bastad MD R1: Rafael Nadal/Casper Ruud [WC] def. Guido Andreozzi/Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela 6-1, 6-4 Match Stats

📸 Tennis TV

Ruudal turned out to dominate from the start thanks to their groundstrokes, where hitting hard outrallied G. Andreozzi/M.A. Reyes-Varela until the latter lacked some finishing options. Even if they tried to step up in the second set, Ruudal got their footing back from their anticipative returns, questioning the balance of the second seeds as the match progressed. As a result, G. Andreozzi/M.A. Reyes-Varela could only convert 20% of their set points in the middle of the second set, while Ruudal had twice more break points (50%) with 40% of the break points being converted.

Besides, Ruudal turned out to have a more consistent service game. Landing 67% of their first serves, the wild card scored twice more aces than G. Andreozzi/M.A. Reyes-Varela (4 to 2), where they won 72% of their first serve points to manage several hiccups in between. In contrast, the second seeds had more vulnerable second serves since they only won 50% of their second serve points, 6% more than Ruudal as this became one of their most vulnerable shots.

In the next round, Ruudal will face the winner between Theo Arribage/Roman Safiullin and Mariano Navone/Cameron Norrie, which will be played tomorrow (local time). While this could be a chaotic match at their best, this will test their point construction, as well as their balance of power, taking into account how baseline-oriented the pairs can be and how will they manage their net game to follow up. It could be tricky, but it would also be an exciting watch!

[interstallerrr]

Matee Casper's on firee🔥🔥🔥

[rafaelnadalfans]

Rafael Nadal Arrives in Sweden with Adorable Son and Wife

Rafael Nadal has arrived in Sweden for the Nordea Open, an ATP 250 clay court tournament taking place from July 15-21. The organizers warmly welcomed him back, and footage shows Rafa accompanied by his wife, Maria Francisca Perello, and their son, Rafa Junior. Best of luck, Rafa, in Båstad! Stay healthy and have a great tournament. It’s a perfect warm-up before the Olympics, and we’re cheering…

[schumi-nadal]

Casper Ruud & Rafael Nadal - Nordea Open 2024 🇸🇪

Rafasper is startiiiiiiiiing 🤩

[engbergsinfinland]

Happy Saturday, everyone!

I'm writing this standing outside the Hakametsä jaahall, where the kids have their ice skating today, and it is another beautiful day here in Tampere. It is in the mid-60s and the sky has some fluffy, white clouds in it. This week, there was some rain, but once again, the weather was darn glorious! Next week looks pretty good, too. I know things will turn shary before too long, so we're really trying to enjoy the end of the Finnish summertime.

This week's big news was that I found a super rad hairdresser, by walking by his salon (Salon Jarmo Hentilä), seeing that he had an Egon Schiele print hanging in the window, and thinking, after peeking in, that I liked the place's aesthetic. I went in, talked to the stylist/owner (Jarmo, I think!), showing him my color formula from my amazing hairdresser at home (Megan), and we were off to the races, as they say! I saw him Thursday morning and ooo lala!! So nice to have smooth hair and a sleek look again. I was a frizzy mess before 😆

Also, this Friday Eric and I had our account-opening appointments at Nordea bank. What a debacle! I mean, we are really paralyzed here without a bank account. I can't add funds to my SIM card so as to retain the Finnish phone number I started with; we can't yet pay for any of the kids' activities through those programs' online portals; and I can't buy the required competitive sports insurance or renter's insurance. Our credit cards do not work for those things and the direct- from-your-bank transfer is the ubiquitous process here. I'll include an image here of what you see when you get to a payment page, say, for your kids dance studio. Also, given that I have a non traditional bank in the US, by direct deposit of my Fulbright stipend hasn't gone through the last two payments, so I really, really, really need the Nordea bank account set up! We chose them because they are an international bank, across the Nordics at least, but, DANG, the thickness of the bureaucracy is staggering.

Of course, perhaps I cannot compare; I have not opened a US bank account in nearly twenty years so I do not recall what is required and of course I was a US citizen when I did so. I did open a bank account in London at Barclays when I lived there and that was a royal (haha) pain in the neck, but I do recall getting it done in a single day.

What Nordea needed was not only our Finnish residency permit card and our US passports and for us to fill out lots of paperwork (as expected) but they also needed the printouts of the PDFs we received from the Finnish immigration office and I did not know this and I only had them in PDF on my phone and of course could not just email them to them. So we had to go home, print them, and go back 🤦🏻 Now, we wait about three business days and we should hear something. Then, we need to set up the online banking and may have to book a fifteen minutes appointments at the branch to get help with that. And, THEN, perhaps we can pay all of our delinquent enrollment fees and other things.

In other news, Cece was invited to a hobbyhorse race party next Sunday by her classmate Herta! We are so excited about this, having seen these videos. If you click no other links this week, click that one, and have your mind blown!

Here are a few other interesting things that happened with us this week.

One day this week, when I knew Cece had to be at school at 8:15, I thought Rowan had to be at school at 9:00. So, he left on the tram later than she did. Later that day, after school, I learned that I sent him to school an hour late. I'm really struggling to get the hang of their different schedules each day! Rowan took pity on me and hand-drew a weekly overview schedule that, in one visualization, includes both Cece's schedule and his. Let's see if I can follow that or whether they just push me to the wayside and manage their own schedules entirely 😆

This weekend has been quite a happenin' one so far in Tampere. There was a big festival called Blockfest at the Nokia arena. I think it was largely a rap festival, featuring some US artists but some from throughout Europe. Eric and I took a walk on Friday night and walked down to an area that is adjacent to the arena and we saw lots of fashion... There were lots of different styles and there was a lot of ... skin. Me even saying that reveals that I have an Irish Catholic mother 😆

Finally, Cece and I went to a fabric store I had spied from the tram we take to one of the ice skating facilities. We tried to go last weekend and it was closed so we went this Friday and had an amazing experience, though the proprietors did not really speak English, though one of the employees did and that was helpful! The owner was very enthusiastic and with a lot of hand gestures we were able to communicate all right. This fabric store was super densely packed and had a lot of upholstery fabric but also had a lot of stretch knits, which I love to sew with. I am definitely going back to that place. Cece chose some blue stretch knit with white stars and some ribbed blue knit for the collar and cuffs of a shirt I will make her. It was a store of my dreams!

On Monday morning we head to Helsinki for the Fulbright orientation and the kids will get to stay there too, 'til midday Wednesday. I've already told their teachers that they'll miss a few days. I'm excited to meet the other Fulbrighters!!

[janesurlife]

I WAS OUT GETTING GROCERIES AND MY MAN REACHED A FINAL....OMG SOMEONE PUNCH ME