Author of a catastrophic start to the match and despite a racket hit in the nose, Rafael Nadal, 3rd in the world, overthrew the Italian Fabio Fognini (60th) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1, Thursday in the second round of the United States Open.
• Read also: United States international: Shapovalov was inspired
• Read also: US Open: Iconic farewell for Serena Williams
“It’s one of the worst starts of my career. I’m still here and that means a lot to me,” commented Nadal. “But it wasn’t a good game,” he insisted.
Faced with the first player to have managed to go up two sets against him in a Grand Slam to finally beat him, in 2015 already at Flushing Meadows, the 36-year-old Mallorcan was out of play for a set and a half, until being trailed 6- 2, 4-2.
To get there, he committed an avalanche of unforced errors and the “vamos”, “go ahead” or other advice from his coach Carlos Moya (coaches are authorized to speak to players during matches on the occasion of this United States internationals) seemed to have nothing to do with it, Nadal was sinking.
And yet, he then turned the tide to equalize in a set everywhere and break away 3-1 in the third set, Fognini’s nonchalance earning him in turn to commit unforced errors in spades.
“I tried to play a little better, anyway it couldn’t be worse,” he commented, explaining that he concentrated on putting more balls in the court to regain confidence before accelerating. .
“These kind of matches happen, but hopefully not too often,” he added.
“I was a little stunned”
A very bad service game on his part allowed Fognini to unbreak to come back to 3-2, but it was only a brief miss for the Spaniard who came back ahead.
He then seemed to be heading for a quiet victory, but an incident almost changed the course of the game again as Nadal led 3-0 in the 4th set: on a backhand extension, his racket bounced on the ground and he was back in the face. Half stunned, bleeding from the bridge of his nose, the Spaniard lay down, his eyes closed, time to get treatment on the court.
“I was a little stunned and it hurt a little,” he said. “It had happened to me before with a golf club, but never with a tennis racket!”.
He resumed play, a bandage on his nose, and took a few minutes and a few exchanges to get back into the game, but Fognini could not take advantage of it.
In the third round, the Spaniard with 22 Grand Slam titles (record) will face the Frenchman Richard Gasquet (91st) against whom he has never lost in 17 confrontations on the main circuit.
“Never mind the past, it’s a chance for both of them to go through to the round of 16 and I will have to play a little more at the level where I play in training,” Nadal said.