(Los Angeles) Back on the courts, Rafael Nadal, four-time winner of the US Open (2010, 2013, 2017, 2019) is on the list of participants in the main draw of the 2024 edition published Tuesday.
The Spaniard has missed the event three times in the last four years.
The 38-year-old left-hander has been granted a protected classification that allows him to be on the list for the fortnight at Flushing Meadows, which begins on August 26 and ends on September 8. He therefore leaves the question of what he wants to do next with his career hanging in the air, giving himself the possibility of continuing after the Paris Olympic Games (July 26 – August 11).
The protected ranking gives a player the opportunity to enjoy their old ranking when returning to competition after a long period of absence due to injury. This allows them to enter certain final tables without going through qualifying. This process has a limited duration and is exhaustible.
The Majorcan, winner of 22 Grand Slam tournaments, played his first singles match since May 27 on Tuesday, beating Leo Borg (son of Bjorn Borg) 6-3, 6-4 at the Nordea Open in Bastad, Sweden. Nadal had not played since his first-round loss to Alexander Zverev on the clay courts of Paris.
PHOTO ADAM IHSE, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Leo Borg of Sweden during their men’s singles match at the Nordea Open tournament in Bastad, Sweden, on July 16, 2024.
The greatest clay-court player has only played in the US Open once, in 2022, since winning his fourth title on the New York hard court in 2019.
Nadal won the US Open in 2010 to complete the Grand Slam and added three more titles at Flushing Meadows in 2013, 2017 and 2019. He reached the fourth round in 2022 but has only played in two Grand Slam tournaments since, never getting past the second round.
Also on the list: Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the 2022 winner, who has just won Roland Garros and Wimbledon and could become the first player since Nadal in 2010 to win those trophies and the US Open in the same year.
Among former US Open winners not on the direct acceptance list, Angelique Kerber and Naomi Osaka are outliers. Both players missed the 2023 edition due to maternity leave and exhausted their protected rankings for major tournaments earlier this year.