By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursdsay August 18, 2022
Rafael Nadal is hoping that he can find his best form ahead of the US Open on the practice court, after he lost his only match of the North American hard court swing on Wednesday night in Cincinnati.
The Spaniard, who was stunned by Borna Coric, 7-6(9), 4-6, 6-3, returned to action for the first time since Wimbledon, when he pulled out of his semifinal with an abdominal injury, sending Nick Kyrgios through to the final.
He played well at times, and showed his rust at others, but the main thing for Nadal is to keep moving forward.
After the loss, he assured reporters of his confidence saying that he “knows the way.”
“You lose. You move forward. I know the way,” said Nadal, adding that he still isn’t 100 percent out of the water with his injury.
Nadal says it is still a bit of a delicate situation.
Maybe the loss was a blessing in disguise? Giving the Spaniard more time to properly recover the injury may be exactly what he needs. If he’s healthy, we know the tennis is there, after all.
“The main thing for me is stay healthy,” Nadal said. “Have been difficult injury to manage, to be honest. The last month and a half haven't been easy, because having a tear on the abdominal, you don't know when is 100% over the thing, so that affects a little bit in terms of not sure if you are able to try your best in every serve.”
Meanwhile, Nadal will continue his training and get ready for the US Open. A few weeks ago we weren’t sure if he’d be healthy enough to play. Despite his loss to Coric, it’s great news that Nadal is back on court – and he stands to be the favorite in New York when the draw is released next week.
“In terms of practice, I need to start to be in a Grand Slam mode, practicing the way that I need to practice to be competitive since the beginning there, and I hope I will be able to make that happen,” said Nadal.
Nadal adds that he has been practicing well – much better than he played against Coric – and that’s another good sign.
His next move will be to perform some tests on his injury to be sure that everything is in good shape. If he's good to go, he'll ramp up his training in the hopes of peaking at the Open, where he is a four-time champion.
“I probably gonna do some tests after here to confirm that everything stays the way that we want,” he said. “But that's it, no? I am positive. I was able to have a week of practice here, trying my best in every single day, practicing days better, practicing much better than the way that I played today, honestly.”