Bouncing back from a set down in his second-round match against Fabio Fognini at the US Open 2022, Rafael Nadal was cruising through the fourth set with a 3-0 lead on Arthurs Ashe Stadium when suddenly he incurred a freak injury on his nose with the racket. He had to take a medical timeout as the injury left his nose bloodied, but recovered to complete the match with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 win. After the win, Nadal opened up on the injury, revealing that initially he had felt that he had broken his nose.
It was during the fourth game of the fourth set when Nadal looked to play the return. But the racket ricocheted off the court and hit him straight on his nose leaving a cut on the bridge of his nose. The racket immediately fell off his hand as he walked towards his bench and laid down on the floor before being attended by the medical team.
Speaking to the press after the match, Nadal revealed that he had felt a bit dizzy after being hit and added that he feels that the nose "getting bigger and bigger", before joking that he deserved that for making a poor start to the match where he lost the first set and was 2-4 down in the second set.
"No, we don't need to create a story. It was just a strong hit. In the beginning, I thought I had broken my nose because it was a shock at the beginning. It was very painful. I lost a little bit then - I don't know how to say in English - but a little bit the feeling of my head," Nadal said at his post-match news conference.
"It's about being a little bit out of the world. I don't know, seems like it is not broken. I am not sure yet. I don't know. I think it's getting bigger and bigger. No, that's just a shock, some way I deserved to play that bad for a while (laughter). No, is joking. Things that happen sometimes, yeah," Nadal added.
Nadal will next face Richard Gasquet in the third round, whom he leads 17-0 in ATP head-to-head.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Hindustan Times.
