No one’s more surprised that he still has a shot at No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in 2022 than Rafael Nadal himself.

At the tennis-advanced age of 36, the Spaniard hasn’t played a competitive match in nearly a month and a half, an abdominal tear having forced him out of Wimbledon after a five-set quarter-final escape against American Taylor Fritz. Yet here he is, age-defiant, back in Cincinnati for the first time in half a decade, a 36-time ATP Masters 1000 champion who’s apparently still hungry for more.

Nadal could usurp the top-ranked Daniil Medvedev should he win the title this week, and Medvedev fail to reach the quarter-finals, returning to No. 1 for the first time since January 2020. It’s a battle that will also decide the top seed at the upcoming US Open. 

“It means a lot to me to have that opportunity, something that I never expected could happen again. But here we are,” said Nadal, the No. 2 seed at the Western & Southern Open. “The main thing is to stay healthy and finish the season playing the events that I want to play. I will not play more than what I believe will work well for my body to achieve this goal, but I am going to put all my efforts into every single event that I play. 

“I do that all the time — it doesn’t matter whether I have the chance to be No. 1 or not. But I’m happy to be in this privileged position. If for some reason that happens, it will be amazing.”

The 2013 champion will open against another player fighting his way back into the mix after injury setbacks: 152nd-ranked Borna Coric of Croatia, the former World No. 12 who last year underwent right shoulder surgery. Their ATP Head2Head history stands at an even 2-2, with Coric having claimed a straight-sets, 6-1, 6-3 decision in the fourth round of this same event back in 2016.

“One year ago, I didn’t know if I would ever have a chance to come back to Cincinnati,” said Nadal. “Here I am. I’m excited for that.” 

The Mallorcan, who until his Wimbledon setback had been on track for the ever-elusive calendar-year Grand Slam, having triumphed at both the Australian Open and Roland Garros, says it’s important for him to temper his expectations this week. After all, abdominal tears can be tricky: Every time you reach up for a serve, for an overhead, you’re risking pain, or worse yet, re-injury.

“You need to know that when you come back after a while things aren’t going to be better. You can’t expect to play at an amazing level from the beginning,” he explained. “Knowing that, accepting that, you have to be able to be humble enough to fight with the tools that you have at the beginning to win the first match. In the Masters 1000s, the opponents are very demanding from the beginning.”

The former #NextGen poster boy Coric, 25, has been limited to just 13 tour-level matches in 2022 (5-8). Below that, his best run came on the ATP Challenger Tour, where reached the final in Montechiarugolo-Parma, Italy in June.

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The Day 3 docket also features an intriguing Battle of Britain clash between two-time champion Andy Murray (2008, 2011) and countryman Cameron Norrie. The Davis Cup teammates have only faced each other on one occasion, back in 2019, with Murray claiming a 7-6(6), 6-7(4), 6-1 victory in the Round of 16.

It will mark Murray’s 38th match of 2022, the most he’s played in a season tracing all the way back to 2016.

“It’s not been easy these last few years to stay fit and healthy, and play enough tennis to get matches to learn from and to build confidence and to get my body physically robust enough to compete week in, week out,” said Murray, No. 47 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. “That’s a positive thing that I got to play lots of matches, or more matches this year. Hopefully, I can continue that through the end of the season.”

The 11th-ranked Norrie is seeking his third title of the year, having prevailed in Delray Beach and Lyon.  When Murray joined the 700-wins club earlier this year in Indian Wells, Norrie observed: “It’s incredible given everything he’s been through, all the setbacks that he’s had, and he’s still waking up every day and going for it, leaving it all on the table. 

“That stands out more — his attitude, his love and passion for the game. For me, it’s more impressive than all those wins. That speaks for itself, all the titles, all those wins, getting to No. 1, finishing No. 1 for the year. That’s sick. He’s a legend of the game. But what’s more outstanding is that attitude that he has and brings on a day-to-day basis.”

Several rising Americans will also be in action at the Linder Family Tennis Center on Wednesday. The BNP Paribas Open champ Fritz will face the streaking Aussie Nick Kyrgios for the first time; Frances Tiafoe will put his perfect 3-0 ATP Head2Head against compatriot Sebastian Korda on the line; and scuffling Canadian Denis Shapovalov will do his best to right his ship (he’s dropped nine of his past 10 matches) against World No. 31 Tommy Paul, who got the best of him earlier this summer in the second round at the Queen’s Club, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Paul also took their title clash last year in Stockholm by the same score.

On 24 October 2014, 17-year-old Borna Coric walked onto centre court at the Swiss Indoors Basel. In his first ATP 500 event, the Croatian stood across the net from his idol, Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals. It was an experience he will never forget.

“It was a full stadium for our quarter-final. I remember I was just enjoying it. I was super happy. I was like a kid in a candy store,” Coric told ATPTour.com. “It just felt good. I was in the moment, I was living my dream.”

It was a dream for Coric just to face Nadal. The teen did much more than that, defeating the Spaniard 6-2, 7-6(4). He now owns a 2-2 ATP Head2Head record against the legendary lefty, with those four meetings coming between 2014 and 2017.

Five years on from their most recent clash, Coric will get another chance to go stroke-for-stroke with the 36-time ATP Masters 1000 champion at the Western & Southern Open.

“I love those moments,” Coric said. “I love the big stages.”

This occasion, however, will be different. When Coric played Nadal the first four times, he was a rising star. In 2014, he was the youngest player in the Top 100 of the year-end Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The next year, he was the youngest player in the year-end Top 50.

Coric earned nine victories against Top 5 opponents and climbed to a career-high World No. 12. But in May 2021, he underwent shoulder surgery and missed more than a year. No longer a phenom, Coric is now attempting to climb the tennis ladder again.

“It’s never easy to come back up after a big injury,” Coric said. “I was out for one year and it’s never easy to come back and play good tennis so every win you can get is hugely important also for my confidence and also for my ranking as my ranking is not there yet where I want it to be.”

It took Coric longer than expected to return to the court, and this season he made his comeback in March at the BNP Paribas Open. The Croatian has tallied a 5-8 tour-level record and competed in four ATP Challenger Tour events, winning one in Italy.

That makes wins like the one he earned on Tuesday against Lorenzo Musetti more special. The match took nearly two hours in the Cincinnati heat, but Coric managed to find a way through.

“You need to enjoy the struggle sometimes as well. That’s why I train a lot in the heat and I try to go as long as possible so in these kind of matches I don’t struggle as much as maybe if I didn’t do [that],” Coric said. “Absolutely you need to respect the battle more if it’s such tough conditions like today to be honest.”

It is not just the tennis Coric needs to worry about. “I’m going to need to think about my shoulder until the end of my career, so I didn’t stop thinking about it,” he admitted.

During tournaments, Coric spends 30-40 minutes working on his shoulder alone. During non-tournament weeks, there are times when he spends 60-90 minutes on it.

“I have to be honest, it very soon became normal to me because if I want to do my job, which is to play tennis, I need to do this, otherwise I cannot play tennis,” Coric said. “I don’t think it’s a huge sacrifice to have an extra 30 minutes of work to get to play tennis. You get to do what you love, it’s not a huge deal. If I usually come one hour before practice, now I need to come one and a half hours. That’s it. It’s not a big deal.

“But I don’t think about it any more when I play to be honest because even if I feel a little bit of pain, which sometimes I do, I know nothing can break. I cannot do any more damage, so sometimes I just need to accept that I will have a little bit of pain and that is fine with me.”

That sounds like the mindset of Coric’s next opponent, Nadal. As much as the Croatian admires the lefty’s physical game, it is his mentality that stands out the most.

“Obviously about his game, I was loving everything. There is nothing wrong in his game, so you can look at each shot and you can try to do that, because he is one of the best on the Tour,” Coric said. “It’s more about the fighting spirit, which I think we can all learn from and he can be our idol.”

Currently World No. 152, Coric knows he is not back to his peak form yet. But that will not stop him from giving Nadal everything he has.

“[I will play] without any pressure. I just get to enjoy it even more now because I didn’t have those kind of matches and the competition in the past two years and I did miss that. I just get to enjoy it even more than when I was 17 or 18,” Coric said. “Since I was out now playing Challengers and all that, I just get to enjoy it even more now.”

Daniil Medvedev rued facing the unseeded Nick Kyrgios so early in Montreal after defeat in his opening match last week. The World No. 1 faced another tough test against Botic van de Zandschulp on Tuesday night as he began his Western & Southern Open campaign.

Playing against the only man to take a set off him in his 2021 US Open title run, Medvedev made a fast start behind an instant break but had to survive a strange second set to secure a 6-4, 7-5 victory and advance to the third round in Cincinnati.

“The second set was not that clean,” said Medvedev, who surrendered a break advantage and saved a set point on serve in the set. “The first set was great. Everything was working. I had three games where I had break points but managed to break in the first game, which was enough.”

Solid if unspectacular, Medvedev built a lead of a set and a break but immediately surrendered his advantage as van de Zandschulp levelled at 3-3 in the second. After the Dutchman saved three break points to hold for 5-4, it was Medvedev’s turn to save a break point, which doubled as set point. The top seed survived thanks to an error from his opponent, then broke for the third time in the match as van de Zandschulp double-faulted three times on serve at 5-all.

“The second set was going not that bad,” Medvedev said. “He was not serving especially well today, doing a lot of double faults. So I tried to keep pressure, use my chances. Actually on return, I feel like I did a good job. Two breaks on these fast courts is enough to win and I should have done a little bit better on my serve. But the first match is tricky and I’m happy that I managed to go though, and hopefully I will raise my level in the next matches.”

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Serving woes plagues van de Zandschulp all night, as he finished with 11 double faults, including two on break points. But he made one last charge on return, creating his third break point of the match as Medvedev served it out.

“It happens to me some tournaments,” Medvedev said of his opponent’s serving struggles. “You don’t know why, you just cannot put a second serve in and actually I did a few also here today. So maybe there was something with the balls getting a little bit heavy with the humidity.”

Medvedev, who served four double faults himself with a first-serve percentage of 58, did just enough damage in his final service game to close out the match on his third match point. When the 2019 Cincinnati champion did make his first serve, he dominated with an 87 per cent win rate. 

He will next face Montreal quarter-finalist Tommy Paul or Denis Shapovalov, with a potential rematch with Kyrgios looming in the quarter-finals. With one more victory, Medvedev will secure his place atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings through his US Open title defence.

Carlos Alcaraz fell victim to an upset bid from American Tommy Paul in his last outing, admitting post-match that he couldn’t handle the “pressure” of being the second seed in Montreal.

The Spaniard did not allow the pressure to build on Tuesday in his second-round match at the Western & Southern Open as he breezed past home hope Mackenzie McDonald 6-3, 6-2 on the Grandstand to earn his first win in his second Cincinnati appearance.

“I’m really happy with the performance today,” he said. “One of the goals in this tournament is to grow with the pressure… to enjoy as I did at the beginning of the year and last year. To enjoy playing great tennis, to try to be relaxed. I think in this round I did it and I’m really happy with it.”

An ATP Masters 1000 champion in Miami and Madrid already in 2022, Alcaraz improved to 16-3 at that elite level this season and 43-8 on the year, including 13-3 on hard courts. 

The 19-year-old quickly banished any lingering doubts from Montreal by breaking in the very first game against McDonald and he sealed the opening set with authority behind another break. Alcaraz did his damage late in set two as he stormed through its final four games to advance in one hour and five minutes.

“I think this court is fast, the ball slides a lot and it’s difficult to play with that,” he said of the Cincinnati conditions. “I tried to be really focussed with his shots and to be aggressive, that’s all.”

Seeded third in Ohio, he will next face Marin Cilic or Emil Ruusuvuori, who are also playing Tuesday evening.

Ben Shelton has had a knack for peaking at the crucial moments in his college career, earning the title-clinching match win for the University of Florida at the 2021 NCAA Championships and finding top form at the 2022 individual championships to claim the singles title in May.

Since then, the 19-year-old has reached two ATP Challenger Tour finals and two semi-finals in his native United States. He also earned a win in his tour-level debut last month in Atlanta before a third-set tie-break loss to John Isner, who was full of praise for his young countryman post-match.

On Tuesday at the Western & Southern Open, Shelton rose to the occasion in his ATP Masters 1000 debut, thrilling the home crowd on Porsche Court. On the right side of a three-setter against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego, the wild card scored a 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-5 win in two hours, 52 minutes. The victory moved him inside the Top 200 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and set up a second-round showdown with fifth seed Casper Ruud.

“It means a lot [to get my first Masters 1000 win],” he said post-match. “I was really grateful for [tournament director] Eric [Butorac] giving me a wild card here. I’m really happy that I get to play my first one here in the United States. It’s an amazing atmosphere here and it was a lot of fun today, so I’m excited for Round 2.”

Shelton, who earned a US Open main-draw wild card by way of his NCAA singles title, downed Sonego by claiming his lone break of the match in its final game following a rain delay of nearly an hour. In the opening set, the American could not convert on six break chances midway through the set, but he took the tie-break after not facing a break point on his own delivery.

Despite two love service holds in set two, a mid-set slip-up on serve cost him the set. Shelton saved break points in consecutive service games early in the decider before striking the final blow with heavy baseline hitting.

“I thought that when I went back out on the court I had a good plan of attack and I was happy to be able to get that first break,” added Shelton, who said he changed clothes, listened to music and worked with his strength coach to get ready for play during the rain delay.

Ranked World No. 547 in May when he won the NCAA singles title, Shelton now sits at No. 197 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings and can move as high as No. 170 with a win in the second round.

“That’s awesome,” he said upon hearing the news. “I didn’t realise that, but it’s cool that I made the Top 200. That’s definitely a checkmark for me, so I’m glad that I’m moving in the right direction.”

Did You Know?
Shelton is coached by his father, Bryan Shelton, who is the Florida men’s tennis head coach and a former World No. 55.

Nick Kyrgios is known for his sizzle — huge serves, tremendous touch, tweeners and winners out of nowhere. Although some question his shot selection from time to time, the Australian says there are brains behind his brilliance.

“I feel like I do my research on all the players, and I feel as if I have got a very good tennis brain. Watching tennis as a kid and all the tennis I have played and just how much I watch it, I kind of know everyone’s strengths and weaknesses,” Kyrgios said. “I just feel like I know my game style well and what works. I feel obviously against someone like Fokina or Medvedev, de Minaur, these type of players, if I engage in too many rallies, it’s not high percentage.”

Kyrgios specifically referred to how players will engage in crosscourt rallies to play “high percentages”. He is unafraid of switching things up and changing the rhythm of a rally.

“For me, that’s not high percentage. That’s not how I’m going to win matches is by playing easy balls crosscourt. For 90 per cent of players, that’s high percentage, but for me that’s very low-percentage tennis. That’s not going to get it done,” Kyrgios said. “Against these types of players, I know I have to stay on top of the points, stay aggressive, try and shorten the points where I can, serve and volley, mix it up, slice. I have got to play my type of tennis, and that’s high percentage.”

To the 27-year-old, it is less about following conventions and more about employing your game style properly against a given opponent. Fighting fire with fire is not always going to work, for example.

“I just feel like I’m really clear on what that is for my game, and I know how other people are trying to play,” Kyrgios said. “That’s the key to it. I feel like me not having a coach has worked. I think the last six months, I don’t think many people have achieved that without a coach before, and I feel like that’s just something that comes with confidence and knowing your game.”

Kyrgios advanced to the second round of the Western & Southern Open on Tuesday with a 7-5, 6-4 win against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. The recent Citi Open champion and Wimbledon finalist has performed well in Cincinnati before, especially in 2017, when he defeated Rafael Nadal en route to his first ATP Masters 1000 final.

“Cincy is quiet and it’s a very chill place. I have played some amazing tennis here in my career, and I have also had some crazy outbursts, as well,” Kyrgios said. “It’s definitely a flip of the coin of what Kyrgios comes and shows up in Cincinnati, but hopefully this time around it’s just a calm, collected [Kyrgios]. I just want to have a good week before I continue on the good habits and just give myself all the best for preparation for US Open.”

Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies faced down two of the biggest serves on the ATP Tour on Tuesday to book a second-round berth at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

The German duo converted three of six break points against Miami champions Hubert Hurkacz and John Isner to seal a 6-4, 7-6(0) first-round victory at the ATP Masters 1000 event. A topsy-turvy second set contained four breaks of serve but Krawietz and Mies dominated the tie-break to set a meeting with Alex de Minaur and Cameron Norrie.

Two-time Roland Garros champions Krawietz and Mies are chasing their maiden Masters 1000 title in Ohio, where they have never progressed beyond the quarter-finals.

Also on Tuesday, Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara edged home wild card pairing Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe in a tense first-round clash. The British-Finnish team, which lifted its first ATP Tour title of the year in Hamburg last month, triumphed 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 on tournament debut in Cincinnati.

Fifth seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic enjoyed a far more straightforward path to the second round. The Croatians defeated Lukasz Kubot and Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 6-4.

Another week, another strong start for Nick Kyrgios in 2022.

The Australian improved his record in first-round matches this year to 11-0 with a 7-5, 6-4 victory against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Tuesday.

Kyrgios, who reached his sole ATP Masters 1000 final in Cincinnati in 2017, struggled for consistency at times during his 90-minute win, but he was clinical in converting three of four break points during his maiden ATP Head2Head clash against Davidovich Fokina.

“He’s a tricky player, he’s so talented, he’s got so many shots at his disposal,” said Kyrgios after the match. “So I knew that I just had to serve well and then dictate as much as I can. His backhand is incredible. It was a tricky match.”

Kyrgios had enjoyed a nine-match winning streak prior to his defeat last week to Hubert Hurkacz in the Montreal quarter-finals. The Australian was happy to immediately return to winning ways, despite having to make some adjustments in his first match in Cincinnati since 2019.

“The conditions are a lot different here to Montreal,” said Kyrgios. “It’s more lively, harder to hit the ball in, but I responded well and returned well today. Hopefully I can keep it going.”

After clinching the sole break of the first set in the 11th game to move ahead, Kyrgios looked to have all the momentum as he broke again in the first game of the second set. The Australian’s focus was tested as the resilient Davidovich Fokina immediately struck back for 1-1, but Kyrgios responded with a high-quality return game that included some searing hitting from deep.

“You just have to continue to keep pushing and keep trying,” said Kyrgios of his reaction after dropping his serve. “I didn’t feel the best physically, a bit worn out with everything, but I just mentally played the big points well. I got broken back, but I used that energy to push returns in and then force another break. It’s not easy out here, so I’m happy with that.”

The 27-year-old Kyrgios lifted his seventh ATP Tour title in Washington nine days ago. The Australian did not lose his serve once that week in the U.S. capital, and he will face another player with a big delivery in the second round in Cincinnati: 11th seed Taylor Fritz. The American cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 first-round win against Sebastian Baez.

Working overtime on your 21st birthday? It was all worth it for Jannik Sinner.

The Italian was made to dig deep by Thanasi Kokkinakis in the pair’s first-round match at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Tuesday, but the 10th seed ultimately prevailed 6-7(9), 6-4, 7-6(6) in a marathon three-hour, 15-minute encounter.

“I love to play tennis and doing the thing that you love on your birthday is the best thing you can do,” said Sinner after the match. “Obviously today was a happy ending, so I’m very happy about that.”

Sinner fired 43 winners, 30 of them from his forehand wing, while Kokkinakis struck 35 of his own as their maiden tour-level meeting proved to be an engrossing one. Sinner appeared to have the momentum after twice breaking Kokkinakis’ serve to claim the second set, but the World No. 12 needed a deciding-set tie-break to clinch the win and book a second-round meeting with Pablo Carreno Busta or Miomir Kecmanovic at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

“In the beginning I was not playing so well or feeling the ball so well,” said Sinner. “I tried to be a little bit more aggressive, which I had to do because Thanasi is a very attacking player. Let’s take the positives out of this match, and hopefully in the next round I can play also at a higher level.”

Sinner’s attempts to stay on the front foot are reflected in the INSIGHTS In Attack statistics for the match. The Italian played 29 per cent of his shots from attacking positions, five per cent more than Kokkinakis and six per cent more than the ATP Tour average.

After showing consistent form in 2022, Sinner lifted his first trophy of the year with an impressive championship match win against Carlos Alcaraz in Umag in late July. A six-time tour-level champion, the Italian is chasing his maiden Masters 1000 crown in Cincinnati, where he reached the second round on tournament debut a year ago.

With the win, Sinner improved to a 37-10 record for the season. The 21-year-old is seeking a strong run in Cincinnati to boost his chances of qualifying for November’s Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. Sinner currently sits 15th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.

There was no first-round success for another #NextGenATP Italian, Lorenzo Musetti, in Cincinnati. Borna Coric, a quarter-finalist in 2016, defeated the Hamburg champion Musetti 7-6(2), 6-3 in the pair’s maiden tour-level meeting to set a second-round clash against second seed Rafael Nadal.

Fabio Fognini did succeed in joining his countryman Sinner in the second round, however. The 35-year-old downed Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-2, 6-3, and he will next face sixth seed Andrey Rublev.