Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal met Borna Coric in the second-round Wednesday night, marking his first Western & Southern Open action since 2017.

A pair of heavy returns from Nadal in the final game gave the upper hand to Coric, who then finished the match and the upset with a strong forehand. "Obviously, I had my chances (in) the beginning. Searching for momentum, Nadal found his groove in the second set after Coric took an early 3-2 lead. I need to return better." I need to practice. "I need to improve.

Since the late 1990s, many Spanish players have left their mark, both at the Grand Slam level and in the ATP rankings.

The world number three in this 2022 has won two Grand Slam titles out of three (Australian Open and Roland Garros), but has not achieved any title at 1000 level. He started Carlos Alcaraz with the triumph in Miami over Casper Ruud in two sets, with the first Masters 1000 of his career, at less than 19 years of age. Since the late 1990s, many Spanish players have left their mark, both at the Grand Slam level and in the ATP rankings.

Late in the third set, Borna Coric came nose-to-nose with Rafael Nadal at net. Reacting to a body shot, Coric reflexed a volley winner.

Coric attacked behind a forehand down the line for his second break point of the evening. Leaning into a series of crosscourt backhands, Coric drew an errant forehand down the line breaking for 4-2. 12 narrowly missed the mark on a forehand down the line handing Nadal break point in the seventh game. Hitting a heavy serve, Coric hammered a forehand for double match point. Nadal knifed a brilliant backhand volley off another serve-and-volley closing the second set in style to force a final set after two hours, six minutes. Dancing around his backhand, Nadal hammered a heavy diagonal forehand to draw the error and break for 4-3. The Croatian sailed a forehand as Nadal earned his first set point. Uncharacteristically, Nadal curled a crosscourt forehand wide to hand Coric another set point. The 25-year-old Croatian set up the first-strike forehand he wanted, but bungled a drop shot attempt into net as Nadal leveled at 9-9. Coric cranked a 134 mph ace down the T to force the tiebreaker after 55 minutes of play. 152 Coric reached rare air with this win—his third in five meetings vs the 36-year-old Spanish superstar—joining Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko and Dominik Hrbaty as the fourth man to own a winning record over Nadal with a minimum of four matches played. Coric, whose two-handed backhand is his best groundstroke, really went after his forehand hitting 17 forehand winners compared to nine for Nadal, who was making his first Cincinnati appearance since 2017.It was Nadal's first match since he outlasted Taylor Fritz in a five-set Wimbledon thriller 41 days ago and his first hard-court match since bowing to Fritz in the Indian Wells final on March 20th.

Rafael Nadal is ready to come back. After the forced withdrawal from Wimbledon and the precautionary withdrawal from the Masters 1000 in Montreal, ...

If you make the final, fantastic. If you make the semifinals, good. “If you make the quarterfinals, great. The level is very high and I hope to be ready for Wednesday", he explained as always with great lucidity. “I think he [Carlos Alcaraz] has the right people next to him. At this level, if you come back after a long time and an injury, it's not always easy to find your rhythm again.

The Croat has now won three of five career meetings with Nadal—it was also his 10th career win over a Top 5 player.

The former world No. Coric’s victory over the No. So coming back from a tough period of time, something easy to accept and easy to say congrats to Borna that he played better. I was honestly just looking forward to playing this match, as I hadn’t had that in the last two years. 12 and has been a thorn in Nadal’s side—this was his third win in five meetings with the 22-time Grand Slam champion. Cincinnati, USA

A very solid game by the Croatian tennis player surprises the Spaniard in his return after more than a month injured. Rafael Nadal.Twitter: @ATPTour_ES.

This time it was Coric who broke the serve, it was in the sixth game of the set. In the second set, the Croatian raised his level with his serve. [Rafa Nadal heading straight to No.1](https://www.marca.com/en/tennis/2022/08/04/62ebd9db22601d952f8b45b4.html) [Rafael Nadal](https://www.marca.com/en/tennis/rafael-nadal.html)'s return to the tennis courts was the main attraction of Wednesday in Cincinnati. Set for Coric, although the Spaniard had two set points to take it. It didn't seem like the Croatian had only won 5 of his last 14 ATP matches after his return in March from a year of injury. When the game began again, Borna Coric brought out a very aggressive game, which was enough to win the first set.

Rafael Nadal is ready to come back, after the forced withdrawal from the Championships and the precautionary forfeit from the 1000 in Montreal, ...

I feel lucky to have been able to share such a long period of time with her on the circuit. He told about the US star: "I have a lot of memories. The level is very high and I hope to be ready for Wednesday."

Borna Coric spoiled Rafael Nadal's return from a six-week layoff, beating the Spanish star 7-6 (9), 4-6, 6-3 on Wednesday night in the Western & Southern ...

[Sebastian Korda](http://www.espn.com/sports/tennis/players/profile?playerId=3368) came back to defeat [Frances Tiafoe](https://www.espn.com/sports/tennis/players/profile?playerId=2708) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to reach the third round in Cincinnati for the first time. He is among four American men to advance to this stage of the tournament, the most since 2003 when there were five; he joins Fritz, Shelton and [John Isner](https://www.espn.com/sports/tennis/players/profile?playerId=1023), his next opponent. Shelton is the youngest American to defeat a top-five opponent since [Andy Roddick](https://www.espn.com/sports/tennis/players/profile?playerId=436) beat No. 1 [Gustavo Kuerten](http://www.espn.com/sports/tennis/players/profile?playerId=577) in 2001. "I need to return better. "With a week-and-a-half to New York, it's sad to not play here,'' Nadal said.

RAFAEL NADAL lost on his return from injury as he now looks ahead to the US Open.

Nadal also had a chance to become the world No 1 for the first time since January 2020. Coric proved troublesome for Nadal throughout and ended up improving to a 3-2 record against Nadal in his favour. Nadal confirmed last week that he would be making his return in Cincinnati to try and build up some momentum for the final Slam of the year.

Rafael Nadal was back in action for the first time since being forced to withdraw from Wimbledon after reaching the semi-finals.

"I need to move forward and just start to think about the energy that the crowd gives me in New York. "I am positive," he said. I need to return better. I need to practise. I was honestly just looking forward to playing this match as I haven't had that in the last two years. "I was out for the last two years and I didn't play on the big stage in front of the crowd and everybody.

RAFAEL NADAL has vowed to make his first appearance at the US Open since 2019 a memorable one.

Nadal also heads into the main draw of the US Open with a stellar win percentage in 2022, having won in 35 of his 39 matches (89.7 per cent) this year. However, a 7-6 (9), 4-6, 6-3 defeat at the hands of Borna Coric in the first round cut short his attempts to get in some much-needed on-court practice ahead of the US Open on August 29. Nadal is currently ranked at No 3 but has his sights set on extending his run at the summit after spending 209 weeks as the top-ranked player in men’s tennis in his career.

Rafael Nadal drops a three-setter to Borna Coric in Cincinnati. © Mike Lawrence/ATP Tour. ATP Staff Aug 18, 2022. Spaniard upset by Coric in first match ...

I know the way," he said. I need to return better. "I need to practise. "It's difficult to take a lot of positive things, but I need to improve," Nadal said. So coming back from a tough period of time, [it is] something that's easy to accept and easy to say congrats to Borna, that he played better." Nadal missed out on two set points in a dramatic first-set tie-break but regrouped to force a decider.

RAFAEL NADAL was beaten in three sets by Borna Corcic in his first match back from injury at the Cincinnati Masters.

This time, it's the Serbian who will be missing [over his refusal to be vaccinated against Covid-19](/sport/tennis/1654723/Novak-Djokovic-US-Open-Federer-Nadal-tennis-news). And afterwards, the icon seemed to cite practice, more time on court, an improvement in play and his return of serve as areas to address before Flushing Meadows. In his first match back [since withdrawing from Wimbledon with an abdominal injury](/sport/tennis/1637148/Rafael-Nadal-injury-Wimbledon-withdrawal-Nick-Kyrgios-final-tennis-news-breaking), Nadal lost 7-6 (9-7) 4-6 6-3 to the world number 152, later admitting he's only managed two practice sets in the past 40 days.

Rafael Nadal said it was "difficult to take a lot of positives" as his return from injury ended in a second-round defeat at the Western & Southern Open in ...

I need to return better. "I need to practice. "The main thing for me is to stay healthy," Nadal told reporters.

Rafael Nadal crashed out of Western & Southern Open after losing the match 7-6 (9), 4-6, 6-3 against Borna Coric of Croatia here on Thursday.

More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. Coric applied greater pressure in the decider and was a deserved winner after securing his first break of the match to move ahead 4-2. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. "I need to be very aggressive for sure, especially because I was playing for a very long time today and I also finished very late. I was honestly just looking forward to playing this match as I haven't had that in the last two years. Nadal's defeat ends his bid for a return to the top spot in the ATP Rankings this week.

Playing at the Western & Southern Open outside Cincinnati for the first time since withdrawing ahead of his Wimbledon semifinal with Nick Kyrgios due to an ...

“I need to move forward and just start to think about the energy that the crowd gives me in New York,” he said. Nadal will be the No. “I need to practice. I need to return better. So coming back from a tough period of time, [it is] something that's easy to accept and easy to say congrats to Borna, that he played better.” Still, the loss should be taken in context.

El número tres mundial cuenta ahora con menos de dos semanas para preparar el Abierto de Estados Unidos, donde aspira a ampliar su liderato en triunfos de ...

[El ex delantero se refirió al “grupo de la muerte” integrado por PSG, Juventus y Benfica. [La defensa del dirigente intentó declarar como ilegal la medida en su contra, petición que fue rechazada por un juzgado de garantías. Necesito días, esa es la verdad.

A menos de dos semanas del US Open, el balear no puede con Borna Coric en su primer partido tras la lesión abdominal que le obligó a retirarse de Wimbledon.

Antes trabajó en El Mundo y Ogilvy. Me queda una semana y media para llegar a Flushing Meadows y tengo que activar ya el modo Grand Slam”. [Rafael Nadal ha perdido esta madrugada en su regreso al cemento de Cincinnati](https://elpais.com/deportes/2022-07-08/cielo-e-infierno-de-nadal-entre-dos-mundos.html) (7-6(9), 4-6 y 6-3), un Masters 1000 que, si bien ganó en 2013, nunca ha sido plato de buen gusto para el español. Y detalla: “Hay una línea muy fina entre sentir las molestias típicas, nada preocupantes, que supone tener una cicatriz en el músculo o establecer si ese dolor ocurre porque algo no va bien”. No puedo más que felicitar a Borna [Coric] porque ha jugado un gran tenis”, dijo el español tras el encuentro. Es algo que puede pasar después de un tiempo sin competir y que históricamente me ha ocurrido en este torneo.

Rafael Nadal tiene historial positivo contra casi todos los jugadores del circuito, pero Borna Coric es una de las excepciones...

El eslovaco se quedó con tres de los cuatro compromisos entre ambos, mientras el español se retiró invicto en dos partidos. El alemán, en tanto, también tiene la particularidad de nunca haber perdido con el español: los dos cruces quedaron en su poder. Por eso, en una entrevista en 2022, el ruso señaló: "Mi juego coincidía bien con el de Rafa en pistas duras, por eso no tuve tantos problemas con él. Coric, en Cincinnati 2016, lo superaría en dos parciales para retomar la distancia en el historial. En su camino para volver a ser el Nº 1 del mundo y seguir agrandando su colección de títulos, Rafael Nadal se topó en el Masters 1000 de Cincinnati con una de sus debilidades: Borna Coric. En el US Open 2015, el español se tomaría revancha y lo sacaría en cuatro sets.

Borna Coric, ranked 152nd in the ATP rankings, ousted Nadal 7-6 (9), 4-6, 6-3 at the Western & Southern Open, handing the record-holder of 22 Grand Slam titles ...

29](https://www.foxnews.com/category/sports/tennis/us-open-tennis) and runs through Sept. [CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP](https://foxnews.onelink.me/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&af_dp=foxnewsaf%3A%2F%2F&af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fapps-products) The main thing for me is to stay healthy. So coming back from a tough period of time, [it is] something that's easy to accept and easy to say congrats to Borna, that he played better." Nadal did not show signs of any lingering effects of the injury. Nadal had not played a match since an abdominal tear forced him out of the