The Spanish legend – Rafael Nadal will return to the tennis court for the first time since defeating Taylor Fritz in an epic quarter-final clash at the Wimbledon Championships.
Rafael Nadal‘s impending comeback will happen at the upcoming Cincinnati Open.
The 36-year-old returned to the grass-court major after several years and looked like one of the favorites to go the distance. He got better every match until an abdominal injury forced him to pull out of the competition ahead of a semi-final clash against Nick Kyrgios. Since then, Nadal has spent his time recuperating from the injury and recently began practicing at his academy in Mallorca, Spain.
He skipped the Canadian Open to give himself more time to recover fully from the injury. Now, the 22-time Grand Slam champion has confirmed that he will finally return to the Cincinnati Open after a gap of 5 years.
Very happy to play again in Cincy. Flying there tomorrow,” Nadal wrote in an Instagram post.
Nadal won the tournament back in 2013 and will hope to triumph once again and enter the US Open competition high on confidence.
However, Nadal has much more than confidence to gain at the Cincinnati Open. He is currently ranked world No. 3. If the southpaw wins the Cincinnati Open and Daniil Medvedev loses early, we might see the 36-year-old return back to the top of the rankings once again.
When did Rafael Nadal become World No. 1 for the first time?
Nadal turned pro in 2001. It took him 7 years to reach the No. 1 position in the ATP rankings.
Nadal started 2008 with a win at the Chennai Open. He followed it up with a semi-final appearance for the first time at the Australian Open. Nadal made it to the final of the Miami Masters for the second time.
The spring clay-court season was tremendously productive for the Spaniard. He won titles for fun and also notched up his fourth consecutive French Open title triumph. Nadal’s impressive run of form continued at Wimbledon as he won the grass-court major for the first time in his career.
Nadal extended his winning streak at the Rogers Cup and bagged another title. A semi-final appearance at Cincinnati followed.
Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic in the semi-final and Fernando Gonzalez in the final of the 2008 Beijing Olympics to win gold and also become the world’s No. 1 ranked player on 18 August 2008, ending Federer’s reign at the top which lasted over four years.
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