Rafael Nadal will seek his fifth US Open crown in the following two weeks, entering the event as the second seed and having the desired draw. Rafa has played only one match after experiencing an abdominal injury at Wimbledon.
The Spaniard withdrew from Montreal and suffered an early loss to Borna Coric in Cincinnati. Nadal has been training in New York for the last couple of days. He has been working on his game and improving his serve ahead of the first-round clash against Rinky Hijikata.
The doubles legend Todd Woodbridge said no one could guarantee that Rafa’s stomach muscle would be fine. Nadal withdrew ahead of the Wimbledon semi-final clash with Nick Kyrgios after dealing with an injury that prevented him from serving properly.
Rafa returned to the practice court after a suitable rest, doing his best to play in Montreal and earn important points in the year-end no. 1 battle. Still, the Spaniard felt the pain in his abdomen again after working on his serve and decided to skip the Canada Open.
Nadal returned to action in Cincinnati and fell to Borna Coric in three sets. Rafa missed the final months of the 2021 season due to an injury and made a perfect return at the start of the new year. Nadal claimed the first Australian Open crown in 13 years and remained unbeaten until the Indian Wells final.
The Spaniard skipped the beginning of the clay season and did not play at his best in Madrid and Rome.
Rafael Nadal will try to overcome an abdominal injury at the US Open.
Nadal celebrated the 22nd Major crown at Roland Garros, toppling Novak Djokovic in the quarter-final and beating Casper Ruud in the title clash.
After a well-deserved rest, the Spaniard headed to Wimbledon and reached the third straight All England Club semi-final. It came after an epic victory over Taylor Fritz in the quarter-final that required five sets and almost four and a half hours.
Nadal withdrew ahead of the semi-final clash with Nick Kyrgios due to an abdominal injury and has played only one match since. Rafa will try to build his form in the US Open early rounds and chase the 23rd Major crown, the third of the season.
“There is no guarantee that Rafa’s stomach muscle will be fine. It would help if you play gently in those types of injuries – coming into a big tournament and competing is hard,” Todd Woodbridge said.
