Rafa Nadal vs. Borna Coric takes place tonight in the first round of the 2015 US Open.
This US Open match is scheduled to start at 01:30 BST.
Preview:
Nadal, who was the 2013 US Open champion, begins his bid to reclaim the Grand Slam title after he missed the event last year with a wrist injury. But fast forward 12 months and he is still feeling the effects of an injury marred season, which saw his ranking drop to its lowest in a decade.
The current World No. 8 secured the crucial seeding just in time for the US Open, which consequently meant he could avoid a higher ranked opponent until the quarterfinals. But he has been placed in the top quarter of the draw, which means – should he advance – a likely meeting against World No. 1 Novak Djokovic could await.
However, Nadal has struggled to advance beyond the quarterfinal stage of all of the Grand Slams already played this year. Tomas Berdych snapped a 17-match losing streak against him to defeat him in the Australian Open quarterfinals, while it was Djokovic who ended Nadal’s run at the French Open. But his worst result came at Wimbledon, as it was unseeded 102nd ranked Dustin Brown who pulled off the upset in the second round.
It was equally expected as surprising at the same time. Nadal had and has not been his dominant self all season, although he nonetheless still insists that he can be dangerous at the final Grand Slam of the year.
“I’m having the worst season in my past 11 years, but I think I can still be a dangerous player,” Nadal said.
He has a 42-14 win-loss record for the season and three titles (but none of them came at Grand Slams or Masters 1000 events).
“The most important thing for me is to see myself playing at a high level again. I believe that I’m close to that.
“I’m feeling better today than I was a couple of months ago.”
“I’ve worked a lot these last couple of months. I know the process; it’s a challenge for me to find the level of play that I’ve been at a lot of times in my career.”
Nadal hasn’t drawn the easiest first round opponent either: ATP young gun Borna Coric. In fact it is Coric who leads the head-to-head record 1-0 against Nadal, after he stunned the Spaniard in straight sets in the Basel quarterfinals at the end of last season. But in Nadal’s defence, he did go on to have a season ending appendectomy.
Nadal is a two-time US Open champion, while Coric made his main draw debut last year. He stunned Lukas Rosol in the opening round, but he subsequently fell to Victor Estrella Burgos in four sets.
Nadal has never lost in the US Open first round and he has won the past 20 out of 21 matches he has played at Flushing Meadows.
