Can Rafael Nadal become number one ahead of the US Open?
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Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal is all set to play his first match at the Cincinnati Open against Borna Coric after being out of action due to his abdominal injury at the 2022 Wimbledon Championship. His withdrawal at SW19 from his semi-final match handed Nick Kyrgios his maiden singles final appearance. He was set to return at the Canadian Open but opted out of the tournament on his doctors’ advised him to take a rest and needed more recovery time.
Nadal has been riding on another high point of his career where he has won the singles title at the Australian Open and as well in the French Open which makes it two out of three Grand Slams of the year to his name. With two back-to-back wins, he holds the record for the most number of singles Grand Slam titles in the Open era surpassing Novak Djokovic‘s record of 21 and Roger Federer‘s record of 20 singles titles. He has been ranked as World number 1 for a period of 209 weeks and has finished as the year-end No. 1 five times.
Will Rafael Nadal regain the top spot in the rankings after 2020
Rafael Nadal‘s return to Cincinnati after five years may give him a chance to regain back his position hopefully if he manages to win the Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati which will award him 1000 points and also if Daniil Medvedev fails to reach the qualifiers. Nadal currently has a stunning 35-3 record this year. Despite not playing for over a month, Nadal has a chance to return to the top of the ATP rankings, which is currently held by Daniil Medvedev. Medvedev’s second-round loss to Nick Kyrgios in Montreal has given Nadal an opportunity to head the ATP rankings for the first time since February 2020.
Medvedev will enter the Cincinnati on 6,885 points, with Nadal 1,265 points behind the Russian. However, the Russian will be defending 360 points, because he made the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters last year, while Nadal doesn’t have to defend any points since he didn’t play in the second half of last season owing to his foot injuries which kept him out from playing any match. It means Medvedev will need to win two matches to ensure that he keeps his status as world No. 1 otherwise Nadal will surely over-take the Russian.
The Spaniard will be hoping to end the year on a high by trying his luck at winning his third Grand Slam of the year at Flushing Meadows which starts on 29 August and take the lead a bit more ahead of his contemporaries. The last he won at Flushing Meadows was in the year 2019 and will be looking to grab another 2000 ranking points in US Open where he makes a comeback after three years.
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Prateek Pradhan
(601 Articles Published)