Watch Andy Murray vs. Matteo Viola on Thursday, not before 6:30pm CEST/12:30pm EDT

On Thursday, Andy Murray will take the court once again at the Rafa Nadal Open by Sotheby’s, continuing his return to the ATP Challenger Tour. The Scot will face 32-year-old Matteo Viola in what will be their first encounter. The Italian is six years removed from reaching a career-high No. 118 in the ATP Rankings.

Murray is competing in Mallorca in search of match play and confidence in his comeback from hip surgery. He got off to a strong start with wins in back-to-back days, including a 6-3, 6-4 dismissal of 2019 Challenger wins leader Norbert Gombos. The former World No. 1 is competing on the circuit for the first time since 2005.

Yep, @andy_murray is back.

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— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) August 27, 2019

Rain prevented 11 of Wednesday’s 16 scheduled second-round singles matches from being played at the US Open, resulting in a busy Thursday schedule to catch up. Second-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal is among the top names in action on Day 4, along with fifth-seeded Russian Daniel Medvedev and sixth-seeded German Alexander Zverev.

Nadal headlines the night session against Aussie wild card Thanasi Kokkinakis. He won his lone FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting against a then-17-year-old Kokkinakis at the 2014 Australian Open. The Aussie was rewarded for years of persistence in dealing with injuries by defeating Ilya Ivashka on Tuesday for his first Grand Slam win in four years. He’s capable of beating anyone when he’s healthy and in top forrm, as evidenced by his stunning upset over Roger Federer last year in Miami.

But the Spaniard has history on his side. He hasn’t lost to a player outside the Top 200 of the ATP Rankings since 2006 Stockholm (l. to J. Johansson) or before the third round in New York since 2004. Nadal also has present form to rely on, arriving off his 35th ATP Masters 1000 title at the Coupe Rogers (d. Medvedev) and a dominant first-round win on Tuesday over another Aussie in John Millman.

“He has a big forehand, big serve. He’s a dangerous opponent, of course,” said Nadal of Kokkinakis. “I need to go on court and to play well. If not, will be a very difficult match.”

Medvedev looks to continue his top-form against Bolivian Hugo Dellien. The Russian is coming off the best three-week run of his career, winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati (d. Goffin) and finishing runner-up at the Coupe Rogers (l. to Nadal) and Citi Open (l. to Kyrgios). Although Medvedev downplayed himself as a favourite to win this year, pointing out that he’s never reached a Grand Slam quarter-final, that could change if he keeps up his current level.

“These [past] three weeks, I basically didn’t have any downs. I had only great matches,” said Medvedev. “Hopefully I can bring this confidence on the court for two weeks or more.”

Zverev opens the day session with a popcorn clash against #NextGenATP American Frances Tiafoe. The German leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 3-1, but Tiafoe’s lone win came two years ago on hard courts in Cincinnati. Zverev is seeking confidence after sporting an 8-6 record since Roland Garros, but his five-set victory over Moldovan Radu Albot on Tuesday could spur him on. Tiafoe is also rounding into form again and reached the quarter-finals last week in Winston-Salem.

“I’m just trying to regain my full confidence. It’s about going match by match for me. It’s about doing the best I can for now,” said Zverev. “It’s the first time in probably a few years where I’m not a favorite in any way at a Grand Slam, and it takes some pressure off, as well. It’s a different mindset for me now.”

Other.notable matches on Thursday include No. 13 seed Gael Monfils of France taking on Romanian Marius Copil and No. 14 seed John Isner of the United States facing German Jan-Lennard Struff. Former US Open champion Marin Cilic of Croatia, seeded No. 22, squares off with German Cedrik-Marcel Stebe.

ORDER OF PLAY – THURSDAY, 29 August 2019

Arthur Ashe Stadium start 12:00
[6] Alexander Zverev vs Frances Tiafoe
WTA match

NB 7:00 pm
WTA match
[2] Rafael Nadal vs [WC] Thanasi Kokkinakis

Louis Armstrong Stadium start 11:00
Two WTA matches
[14] John Isner vs Jan-Lennard Struff

NB 7:00 pm
WTA match
[22] Marin Cilic vs Cedrik-Marcel Stebe

Grandstand start 11:00
WTA match
[5] Daniil Medvedev vs Hugo Dellien
WTA match
[28] Nick Kyrgios vs [WC] Antoine Hoang

Court No. 17 start 11:00
WTA match
[23] Stan Wawrinka vs Jeremy Chardy
WTA match
[13] Gael Monfils vs Marius Copil

Click here to view the schedule for all other courts.

Roger Federer appears to be living by a classic Jim George quote so far at this year’s US Open: “It’s not how you start that’s important, but how well you finish.”

The Swiss is through to the third round in New York for the 19th time, but dropped the opening set in both of his matches to Indian qualifier Sumit Nagal and Bosnian Damir Dzumhur. Although he successfully came back from a set down in two consecutive matches for the first time since 2015 Dubai (Djokovic & Berdych), Federer made it clear that he wasn’t pleased with his slow starts.

“I got exactly what I expected from both guys. I knew what Nagal was going to give me. I knew what Dzumhur was going to give me. But I didn’t expect to hit 15 to 20 unforced errors, which is basically in the entire set just sort of donated,” sad Federer. “They came out and were well-prepared and got me to do that. But I clearly have to play better from the get-go.”

The five-time champion won’t have history on his side as he looks to capture his first title in New York since 2008. No player has lost the opening set in their first two matches and gone on to win the US Open since the challenger round was abolished in 1912.

But while Federer isn’t pleased, he isn’t worried. After 21 years on the ATP Tour, this isn’t the first time he hasn’t come out firing to start a tournament. He understands that winning titles isn’t necessarily about perfection, but progress from match to match. The Swiss will be looking for marked improvement in his third-round clash against No. 25 seed Lucas Pouille of France or Brit Daniel Evans.

“I have been in that position many times where you go through a little phase where you don’t start so well and everybody asks you right away, ‘What are you going to do?’ Just go back to the drawing board. Just do the same things again. You hope for a better outcome,” said Federer. “When it happens like this back-to-back matches, it’s just a bit frustrating more than anything, especially when the level is that low and there are that many errors and the energy is not there.

“[I] can only do better, which is a great thing moving forward. I just need to take the positives out of it, because once I lose that first set I do get better, which is a good thing.”

Federer also knows that the work to win Grand Slams comes well before they start. After going on a family caravan trip following last month’s Wimbledon final loss to Novak Djokovic, he engaged in light fitness and hitting sessions at home in Switzerland before slowly increasing the intensity. His practice sessions in New York can only address slight tweaks now that he’s in match mode, but he’s confident that his efforts to start more quickly will come to fruition this fortnight.

“I can’t reinvent myself from today to the third round. That’s where experience kicks in,” said Federer. “Tomorrow I will not practise over an hour, because I believe that all the hard work I have put in since Wimbledon and before, that I’m ready for that… I have had a good season so far and I’m ready for the next round.”

Andrey Rublev sprung an upset Tuesday at the US Open, ousting eighth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, the reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion. But that wasn’t a massive surprise, as the match was on many people’s radar. Just two weeks ago, Rublev defeated Roger Federer at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. It was expected that Rublev could trouble Tsitsipas with his powerful baseline game.

But while you may think Rublev was riding high on confidence after beating Federer, that confidence actually came from just after Wimbledon, and not on hard courts. Rublev made the final of the Hamburg European Open, an ATP 500 clay-court event.

“I won playing not good tennis, but [I made the final] just because I was fighting and I was a little bit lucky, I don’t know. I still won [matches]. And this sometimes is even better, because this also gives you confidence that even playing your worst tennis, you know how to win,” Rublev said. “This is amazing because all the top players, they know how to do it when they are playing so bad, they still have enough level to [go] at least [at a] minimum [to the] middle of the tournament. They don’t need to play their best to go far and this is amazing. This gives you a lot of confidence.”

It was Rublev’s first ATP Tour final since 2018 Doha, which came in the first week of last season. The Russian had made just one tour-level semi-final since then.

Part of the reason behind that was injuries. Although Rublev reached a career-high No. 31 in the ATP Rankings last February, he’d miss three months from April through July due to a lower back stress fracture. The 21-year-old spent three hours per day at a clinic doing magnetotherapy, then Rublev would eat lunch and sit on his sofa. He’d avoid watching tennis because he wanted to be there.

This season, Rublev fell as low as No. 115 in the ATP Rankings in February, and then he was out for six weeks towards the end of the clay-court swing due to a wrist injury. But he didn’t sit dreaming of moments like his victories over Federer and Tsitsipas.

“I try not to put goals and don’t try to think in the future, Well, if I do this…’,” Rublev said. “I just try to do my best today to improve every day and I know that if I improve these things that I need to improve, I will be a much better player, I will play much better. So this means that for sure I will win more matches. If I win more matches I will get more points, so it’s step by step you know? I focus more on this, especially on practise to give every day everything that I can.”

Something that has also helped in recent months is overcoming obstacles he hadn’t in the past. Rublev lost his first two FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings against Basilashvili this year, and then defeated him in three sets in Cincinnati. The World No. 43 also pointed to victories over Thomas Fabbiano and Albert Ramos-Vinolas at last week’s Winston-Salem Open.

“I was going mentally crazy because I didn’t know what to do, how to play [against them before], and I beat them,” Rublev said. “These matches are also giving a lot of confidence, when the guys you were struggling with to play and finally you become strong mentally, and you accept that okay, you can lose, but let’s do your job the best as you can. And in the end, you turn it into victory and that gives you also a lot of confidence.”

Reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev — who was born exactly six months before the Russian — is a friend of Rublev’s, and they recently played doubles together at the Coupe Rogers. To the World No. 6, Rublev’s recent success is no surprise.

“He’s very motivated. He had a few injuries in the past 18 months. He’s somebody that’s very motivated to play. He’s always been a good player, he’s been [near the] Top 30 already at a very young age. I think he’s going to get back,” Zverev told ATPTour.com. “That’s the level that he can play at, definitely.”

One thing that has at times held Rublev back is his emotions on the court. There has never been a question of the Russian’s talent — he can strike groundstrokes from the baseline with the best players in the world. But sometimes, he has let his passion get the best of him in key moments.

German Jan-Lennard Struff gets on well with Rublev and is highly complimentary of the 2017 Umag champion’s game and character. He has known the Russian since his early teenage years, when Rublev’s emotions were plenty visible. 

“He was practising [in Halle where I lived] when he was like 13 or 14, I don’t remember. My ex-girlfriend was driving him because he had no car. She was driving him to supermarkets. I don’t know if he remembers that, but it was quite funny,” Struff told ATPTour.com. “He was always on court throwing his racquet, playing with one of the club guys and just playing every ball full power and not putting it into the court, putting it into the court felt like random.

“One of the coaches said there’s no chance that he’s not going to go Top 30. He’s such a good player and he’s a nice guy,” Struff said. “He plays so hard the ball, flat, he’s going for every shot and even if he’s missing, he’s still committed in his game. I like that a lot.”

Rublev is doing better to harness those emotions and with it, his game.

“Of course after every match that I was losing or when I was playing I was saying, ‘No, I am so bad, I am the worst one.’ But this is just to take emotions out. But of course inside I always believed,” Rublev said. “Always inside, no matter what I was saying outside, inside I know that I will do my best to try to do as best as I can.”

Rublev will look to do the same in the second round against Gilles Simon.

Borna Coric, the No. 12 seed, withdrew from the US Open on Wednesday citing a lower back strain. Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov becomes the first player to advance to the third round.

Coric was trying to reach the third round in Flushing Meadows for the third consecutive year and for the fourth straight major that he has participated in. In the first round, the Croat defeated Russian Evgeny Donskoy 7-6(7), 6-3, 6-0.

Dimitrov will now face either Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas or Polish lucky loser Kamil Majchrzak for a spot in the fourth round. This is the third time that the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion has made it this far at the season’s final Grand Slam.