'Rafael Nadal has to be considered a favorite', says top journalist

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In Cincinnati, more than just winning the tournament was at stake: in the United States, the fight for the top of the standings had begun. After a brief hiatus in February, Roland Garros definitively returned Daniil Medvedev to the top of the world rankings. Since Novak Djokovic's loss to Rafael Nadal in the French Open quarterfinals, the Russian hasn't left the top since. Considerable help in favor of the winner of the last US Open came from the ATP and his decision at Wimbledon. The third Grand Slam ruled that no Russians or Belarusians (including Medvedev) could enter the British competition; in response, the ATP opted not to award any ranking points. Thus, Novak Djokovic was deprived of the 2,000 points of victory in the Wimbledon final; while Rafael Nadal did not receive any points from the semi-final, he did not play anyway due to his withdrawal. However, it was precisely the Spaniard who, although with fewer points, was able to try to overtake him in Cincinnati: the dream, which for the Iberian champion seemed impossible, dissolved in the second round. With his loss in the second round of the Western & Southern Open, Rafael Nadal was unable to overcome both second placed Alexander Zverev and first placed Daniil Medvedev. With the German still out of action after his ankle operation, the Spaniard needed to win the Cincinnati 1000 tournament to take first place in the standings and the Russian did not have to get past the quarterfinals.

Wertheim reflects on Nadal

Speaking about the match in an interview with the Tennis Channel, sports journalist Jon Wertheim talked about Rafael Nadal. "Yeah, he can use the time off to sort of reassess," Wertheim said. "What happened? There seem to be a lack of confidence. We were all looking at the serve and would that be impacted by this abdominal injury. That did not seem to be the case today, it really was just playing some tight big points," he said. "He's going to New York, the player who ostensibly will be the number one seed. Djokovic would be the favorite, but Djokovic as of now is not in the draw and so Nadal has to be considered a favorite. This is not the tune up that he needed, but I do think an extra week off and sort of the best-of-five format, I think will help him, but this was not one of his prime performances tonight," he added.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/CoBJ9zQ

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