WATCH: Nadal hurts himself with racquet, starts bleeding at US Open
ATP
Rafael Nadal experienced a painful moment in his second-round match at the 2022 US Open when he hurt himself with a racquet.
The four-time US Open champion had to come back from behind in his match against Fabio Fognini. His Italian opponent led already 6-2 and 4-2 in the match, but that lead was ultimately not enough for him.
Nadal won the match 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1, but it wasn't without a minor injury scare. It came at 3-0 in the fourth set, when it seemed that the Spaniard only needed to control the remainder of the match and start thinking about his third-round opponent.
However, an incident happened as Nadal was trying to return a serve from his opponent, stretching into his backhand. He returned the ball, but as he stretched and bent down, his racquet hit the ground and rebounded right in between the eyes.
Nadal immediately started bleeding and required medical help, but that didn't stop him from winning the match in four sets and setting up a third-round meeting with Richard Gasquet.
After his win, the Spaniard spoke about the incident, saying it was just a strong hit, even though he felt like he broke his nose at first.
"[It] was just a strong hit. At the beginning, I thought I [broke] the nose because it was a shock at the beginning. It was very painful. I lost a little bit of the... feeling in my head. It's about being a little bit out of the world."
"I don't know, seems like it's not [broken]. I am not sure yet. I don't know. I think it's getting bigger and bigger. That's just a shock some way I deserved to play that bad for a while. No, it's [a joke]. [These are] things that happen sometimes."
