Former world No.1 Rafael Nadal believes not much should be read into a series of shock losses that occurred at the US Open on Tuesday.
The men’s draw has been blown open following the exit of four out of the top 10 seeded players. Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Karen Khachanov and Roberto Bautista Agut all lost their opening matches. The outcome following a trend set at Wimbledon, where three top 10 seeds failed to progress beyond the first round.
There was better news for Nadal, who disposed of Australia’s John Millman in straight sets. The misfortunes of his rivals in the tournament will not have any impact on his first week of the tournament. He is still projected to play either John Isner or Marin Cilic in the fourth round, followed by Alexander Zverev.
“That’s tennis. That’s all the reaction I can say.” Nadal commented on the losses. “When you start the tournament, you have difficult opponents in front. You need to go on court and respect every single opponent.”
“I went on court against a tough opponent knowing that I need to play well to win. If you play bad, you can lose. Tsitsipas had a very tough first round. Karen is a surprise. I think Thiem have been very sick for the last 10 days. I feel very sorry for him.”
“Roberto was a surprise. Honestly, I’m very sad for him.” He added.
The lackluster results on the men’s tour highlights the consistency of the Big Three. A group compromising of Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. It is the 23rd grand slam tournament where the trio are occupying the top three seedings. They have won the past 11 grand slams between them and at least one member has featured in 56 out of the past 58 major finals.
“That’s something special, that situation. Since 2005 I have been more or less in that position.” Nadal commented about his grand slam seedings over the years.
“I think if you ask Roger or Novak or myself what we think about that, we’ll say it’s something very difficult. But here we are. For us, that’s a good news.”
Nadal will play Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis in the last 64 on Thursday. Former top 70 player Kokkinakis, who has been troubled by injury throughout his career, downed Ilya Ivashka in four sets. Recording his first ever main draw win in New York.
“He has a big forehand, big serve. He’s a dangerous opponent, of course. I need to go on court and to play well. If not, will be a very difficult match.” Nadal previewed of his upcoming match.
It will be the first meeting between the two players since 2014.
