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Nadal overcomes freak self-inflicted injury at US Open

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Rafael Nadal of Spain in action during a practice session before the start of the US Open Tennis Championships, at USTA National Tennis Center, in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 27 August 2022. Peter Foley, EPA-EFE" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/overseas/08/29/nadal.jpg"/><figcaption>Rafael Nadal of Spain in action during a practice session before the start of the US Open Tennis Championships, at USTA National Tennis Center, in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 27 August 2022. <em>Peter Foley, EPA-EFE</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Rafael Nadal overcame a freak injury scare when he accidentally hit himself with his own racquet to reach the US Open third round on Thursday.</p><p>The Spaniard defeated Italy&#x27;s Fabio Fognini 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 but only after suffering a bizarre self-inflicted injury when leading 3-0 in the fourth set.</p><p>The four-time champion, and holder of a men&#x27;s record 22 Grand Slam titles, was hurt when his racquet bounced back off the court as he stretched for a ball, hitting him squarely on the nose.</p><p>The 36-year-old dropped his racquet to the Arthur Ashe Stadium floor and sprinted to the sidelines, where he lay on his back with his nose bloodied.</p><p>The Australian and French Open champion required a medical timeout to have the wound tended before resuming the match with a bandage across the bridge of his nose.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/08/29/22/nadal-eyes-23rd-major-as-djokovic-gives-up-on-us-open">Tennis: Nadal eyes 23rd major as Djokovic gives up on US Open</a></li></ul><p>It was the third time in the match that the trainer had been summoned onto court.</p><p>&quot;I was a little bit dizzy and it was a little bit painful,&quot; admitted Nadal, who said he had suffered a similar injury in the past caused by a golf club.</p><p>He feared he had broken his nose in the incident. </p><p>Nadal said that despite being a set and 4-2 down, he was happy to have recovered after coming into the tournament still worried by the abdominal injury he suffered at Wimbledon.</p><p>That problem caused him to forfeit his semi-final at the All England Club against Nick Kyrgios.</p><p>It also came in a year which has seen him suffer a fractured rib and have to play the entire French Open with pain-killing injections in his left foot.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/08/22/nadal-out-of-wimbledon-with-injury-kyrgios-into-final">Nadal out of Wimbledon with abdominal injury, Kyrgios into final</a></li></ul><p>&quot;I had to play better. It was one of the worst starts ever for me in my career,&quot; he said.</p><p>Nadal also admitted his concerns over his wife Mery Perello -- due to give birth to the couple&#x27;s first child in the coming weeks.</p><p>Spanish media reports claimed she had been admitted to hospital as a precautionary measure.</p><p>&quot;My wife is fine, but in the end these are situations that are sometimes more difficult to manage when you are away from home,&quot; said Nadal.</p><p>Nadal goes on to face France&#x27;s Richard Gasquet, against whom he boasts a 17-0 career record, after coming through Thursday&#x27;s late-night scrap -- which saw a total of 15 breaks of serve and 97 unforced errors.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/07/05/22/nadal-advances-to-eighth-wimbledon-quarterfinal">Nadal advances to eighth Wimbledon quarterfinal</a></li></ul><p>Fognini defeated Nadal from two sets down at the US Open in 2015.</p><p>Buoyed by that memory, the 35-year-old swept through the first set with breaks in the third and seventh games against a sluggish and error-plagued Nadal.</p><p>It was the second successive match in which Nadal had dropped the first set, after he suffered the same fate in his opener against Australian wildcard Rinky Hijikata.</p><p>The first five games of the second set were all breaks, with Nadal forced to call the trainer to treat blisters on his left hand at 2-3 down.</p><p>Fognini stretched to a 4-2 lead before Nadal reeled off the next four games to take the set and level the tie.</p><p>In each of the first two sets, Nadal had managed to hit a meagre three winners.</p><p>The Spaniard, however, then doubled his winners count to grab the third set against a suddenly dispirited Fognini, who needed a medical timeout to have his right foot bandaged.</p><p>Nadal coasted to a 3-0 lead when his bizarre injury temporarily stalled his progress to the last 32.</p><div><strong>dj/leg</strong></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/e8W_XTRbdUM?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Rafael Nadal overcame a freak injury scare when he accidentally hit himself with his own racquet to reach the US Open third round on Thursday.