“Can’t spell Nadal without L” Tennis Fans mock Rafael Nadal after he loses in the second round to World No. 152 Borna Coric in Cincinnati
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Borna Coric and Rafael Nadal
World No. 3 and the 2nd seed at the 2022 Cincinnati Masters, Rafael Nadal returned to action for the first time since his withdrawal at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships before his semi-final match. Having taken more than a month’s break to nurse his injury and get in form, Nadal’s return wasn’t a happy one as he lost to World No. 152 Borna Coric who entered the main-draw through protected ranking.
Coric won the match 7-6(9), 4-6, 6-3 in 2 hours and 51 minutes to claim the victory, his third over Nadal to go 3-2 up against the 22-time Grand Slam champion in their head-to-head. Coric came in clutch in the extended first-set tiebreaker before Nadal levelled the match in the second set. The Spaniard however could not keep up the game in the final set as Coric needed just 1 breakpoint to win the set as Nadal failed to create even a single breakpoint chance.
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Nadal‘s return to Cincinnati was quite anticipated as it potentially gave Rafa a chance to be the World No. 1 before the 2022 US Open. With current World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev also playing in Cincinnati, the Russian’s defeat prior to the quarter-finals and had Nadal won the title, the Spaniard could have started his 210th week as the top-ranked player.
However, with the defeat to Coric, Medvedev will be the top-ranked player and the top seed in his title defence at the US Open later this month. The defeat also opened up another window of opportunity to some sections of fans who trolled the Spaniard for his defeat and squandered chance to reclaim top rank while failing to win on hardcourts once again.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)