• The balls of discord Criticism of the US Open for using different balls for men and women

Minutes after losing in Cincinnati against

Borna Coric

, eventual champion of the tournament,

Rafael Nadal

commented in a press conference that he was already thinking about "activating the Grand Slam mode".

It was his first match since he beat

Taylor Fritz

in the Wimbledon quarters and missed the semifinals against

Nick Kyrgios

due to an abdominal injury.

In a course punctuated by various physical mishaps, the Spaniard has shown special finesse in the

majors

.

those for whom he continues to play tennis, in the same way as

Novak Djokovic

, absent from the US Open that begins 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 lifted two sets against

Daniil Medvedev

to win his second Australian Open, won his fourteenth Roland Garros defeating

Casper Ruud

in the final and walked firmly 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 refines his goals more than ever.

He has 22 Grand Slam titles and continues to lead his career with Djokovic, although the Serbian narrowed the gap with his sixth win at Wimbledon.

Both interpret the rest of the tournaments as spaces to get ready for the

majors.

From one year to another

Nadal, winner of the US 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 surgery to treat Müller-Weiss syndrome.

His future was uncertain.

Before debuting against the Australian

Rinky Hijikata

, whom he will face at one in the morning this Wednesday, despite arriving short of preparation and waiting for how the service responds after his problems in the abdomen, the left-hander, second head As a series, it looks like one of the main candidates for the final victory.

It is not only about the absences of Djokovic and

Alexander Zverev

, who has not been in time to reappear after tearing the lateral ligaments of his right ankle in the Roland Garros semifinals, against Nadal, but, and above all, of the competitive height of a tennis player who has won 35 games and 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 the most delicate of his ailments.

The table does not appear strewn with mines, with

Fognini

or

Karatsev

as hypothetical rivals in the second round, perhaps

Kecmanovic

in the third and a possible semifinal against

Carlos Alcaraz

.

As a complement, in case of raising the cup again, it 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 of becoming the third tennis player in history with talent and arrests to take the four majors in the same year.

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  • Rafael Nadal

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