Painful leg, Nadal crosses Sock in Washington in return

WASHINGTON (AP) There were certainly moments when Rafael Nadal played just like someone who competed for the first time in almost two months and dealt with a left foot injury that he later admitted was painful.

Vibrating serving. Successive netted palms that handed over the key exchange. Inability to control an opponent in 192th place.

And then on the way to victory 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (1) from Jack Sock at the Citi Open for over three hours on Wednesday night, there were times when Nadal looked like a 20-time Grand Slam champion playing the plenary session, announcing 7,500 alone debuted in a hardfield tournament.

The match was not easy, Nadal said. I started to suffer a little too much.

The highlight was a back to the net, between the legs a little magic in the first installment that made Nadal hit the air and made the fans stand and roar. Court coverage of this effort, and when he knocked the running winner out of the Sock knockout, at least hid all the apparent problems caused by the leg injury Nadal recently revealed. was part of why he sat out of Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics and went for three weeks without raising the racket.

A couple of left-hand prepaid winners, who he cut to earn a set point, which he moved with the return winner to take the opener, were good. So was his impeccable form in the leveling. The first feed percentage of 47 in the opening batch and the inability to collect as much as the possibility of one break in another were poor.

Such mistakes open the door for a player like him, Nadal said of Sock, against whom he is now 6-0.

I just have to get a little less pain in my leg, honestly, Nadal said. It is the truth.

The 35-year-old Spaniard played a lot of up and down games, which Nadal himself suggested could happen. This makes sense, given that he last played a point that mattered in June when Novak Djokovic lost to the French Open semi-finals, an event Nadal has won 13 times.

Nadal then said his body needed to rest and recover from the grueling clay field. Meanwhile, Djokovic even withdrew with Nadal and Roger Federer in 20 major championships, so the Big Three will share the men’s record towards the U.S. Open, where the game kicks off on August 30th.

If preparing for the match before the Flushing Meadows trip is paramount, Nadal was given the opportunity to try to remove the rust against Sock, an American who is a former top ten member and owner of the three Grandes. Slam titles double for men.

After Nadal broke the path 4-3 in the second set, then down 1-0 again in the third set, a deficit that would reach 3-1, Nadal returned to his best self.

He held without a hitch, and broke 3-all with a whipping palm to close the 16-stroke substitution before the sprint to get to the drop shot and extend the point he would win and mark with Vamos ’shout! and fist pumps as Sock corrected his answer.

Suddenly an volleyball flying over the shoulder, Nadal held again and now leads 4-3. He was simply much better at the end.

You need matches like that to be more sedentary for months without competition, Nadal said.

On Thursday, he will meet 14th-ranked South African Lloyd Harris, who advanced when his opponent, American Tennys Sandgren, stopped playing due to rib pain.

Previously in 6th place, Dan Evans lost his first match after the COVID-19 test was positive last month and left the Olympics. American Brandon Nakashima defeated Evans 7-6 (1) and 6-0

Other seeds leaving Wednesday: No. 3 Alex de Minaur, No. 4 Grigor Dimitrov, No. 9 Alexander Bublik, No. 10 Taylor Fritz and No. 13 Benoit Paire.

Nadal almost joined them on the way out. He pushed to the brink and pulled through.

___

More about AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports