Rafael Nadal to play Cincinnati Masters after withdrawing from Montreal
ATP
Rafael Nadal didn’t play at the Canadian Open but will seemingly play at the Cincinnati Masters, which will be his first time on the courts since he suffered an injury at Wimbledon.
Nadal has had a tremendous 2022 campaign overall because, up until now, he was able to win two Grand Slam trophies. Had somebody told him that before the season, he would have signed that deal and run away with it.
Even his run at Wimbledon looked decent until that ill-fated quarter-final match against Taylor Fritz because he injured himself in that match. It was an abdominal injury, which proved too significant to overcome in such a short period of time, so he withdrew ahead of the semi-final against Nick Kyrgios.
That sent the Australian into his maiden Grand Slam final, which he would lose against Novak Djokovic. As for Nadal, he went back home to Mallorca, where he started his rehabilitation for the North American hard-court series.
There were rumors that Nadal could find himself already at the Canadian Open in Montreal. He requested the tennis balls in use for the ATP Masters 1000 event, a signal that he intended to play, but ultimately, he didn’t.
The Spaniard skipped that event but seemingly will play at the Cincinnati Masters to get at least some playing time for the US Open. It’s not that big of a surprise in reality because he’s been practicing in Mallorca for a very long time now, and sooner rather than later, he was going to play at some event.
It seems like the choice fell upon Cincinnati, the final ATP Masters 1000 event ahead of the US Open. He would have one week after that event to fine-tune his game for the US Open, which many would argue is the ideal preparation for a player of his caliber.
At the moment, fans are eagerly awaiting Nadal’s return to New York. He’s had some really nice moments over the years there.
