The Spaniard returns three years later to the US Open as one of the strongest candidates for the title. The absences of Djokovic and Zverev further strengthen their options.
Minutes after losing in Cincinnati against Borna Coricultimately champion of the tournament, Rafael Nadal He commented in a press conference that he was already thinking about “activating the Grand Slam mode”. It was his first match since he won Taylor Fritz in the Wimbledon quarterfinals and could not play the semifinals against Nick Kyrgios due to an abdominal injury.
In a course punctuated by different physical mishaps, the Spanish has shown a special finesse in the majors,. those for whom he continues to play tennis, just as Novak Djokovicabsent from the US Open that starts this Monday for not meeting the vaccination requirements.
Nadal had never appeared in New York undefeated in the Grand Slam tournaments, although it was in Flushing Meadows where he rounded off the best year of his career in 2010, after previously winning at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. In the season that concerns us, the Spaniard raised two adverse sets to Daniil Medvedev to win his second Australian Open, won his fourteenth Roland Garros defeating in the final to Casper Ruud and walked steadily on the London grass until the aforementioned mishap.
At 36 years old, and with the chronic injury to the scaphoid in his left foot suffocated for the time being, Nadal sharpens his goals more than ever. He has 22 Grand Slam titles and continues to lead the race with Djokovic, although the Serbian closed the gap with his sixth Wimbledon victory. Both interpret the rest of the tournaments as spaces where they can get ready for the majors.
From one year to another
Nadal, winner of the United States Open in 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2019, was photographed a little less than a year ago leaving a Barcelona clinic on crutches, where he underwent an operation to treat Müller-Weiss syndrome. His future was uncertain. Before debuting against the Australian Rinky Hijikatawho will face at one in the morning this Wednesday, despite arriving short of preparation and waiting for how the service will respond after his problems in the abdomen, the left-hander, second seeded, looks like one of the main candidates for the final victory.
It’s not just about the absences of Djokovic and Alexander Zverevwho has not arrived in time to reappear after tearing the lateral ligaments of his right ankle in the Roland Garros semifinals, against Nadal, but, above all, of the competitive height of a tennis player who has won 35 games and he has only lost four in 2022.
Nadal returns to the US Open three years after his last appearance, when he beat Medvedev, now the defending champion and world No. 1, in the final. In 2020 he decided not to attend due to the pandemic and in the last edition he was battling against the most delicate of his ailments. The painting does not appear strewn with mines, with Fognini o Karatsev as hypothetical rivals in the second round, perhaps Kecmanovic in third and a possible semifinal against Carlos Alcaraz. As a complement, in case of raising the cup again, he would be ascending again to the first place in the ranking, a reward that would also accompany Alcaraz and, obviously, Medvedev, if he is able to renew the success of 2021, when he deprived Djokovic to become the third tennis player in history with talent and arrests to win the four majors in the same year.
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