Rafael Nadal won his first singles match since January last year. He was very strong against Austrian Dominic Thiem in the first round of the Brisbane ATP tournament in two sets: 7-5, 6-1.
Nadal and Thiem were not much inferior to each other in the first set. However, when Nadal took the lead 6:5, the first break opportunities of the match emerged and these were immediate opportunities for the Spaniard to secure the set.
The 22-time Grand Slam winner failed to capitalize on his first three chances. The fourth chance came when Thiem cleared the ball out of bounds.
Thiem’s resistance, who won the 2020 US Open, was broken in the second set. Nadal allowed his opponent just one more game.
long term injury
Nadal could not play tennis for almost a year due to a hip injury. The 37-year-old Spaniard suffered this injury in the second round of the Australian Open.
At the time he was expected to be out for around eight weeks, but the former world number one also needed surgery in June. The result was months of rehabilitation.
In March, it remained outside the global top 10 for the first time in 912 weeks. Nadal fell to 672nd place in the world rankings.
Former world third place Thiem has also been struggling with injuries in recent years. He is currently number 98 in the world.
Cilic also returns
Marin Cilic suffered a painful defeat in his return to the tennis court at the ATP tournament in Hong Kong. Despite nine match points, he allowed Jan-Lennard Struff (ATP-25) to pass after three hours: 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-7 (7).
Cilic was away from the field for a long time. He had surgery on his right knee last January. He returned in July but had knee problems again. The 35-year-old Croatian, who fell to the 674th place in the world rankings in total, could only play in two matches in 2023.
The Croatian dominated the game against Struff, but it was difficult to finish the job. Cilic served twice to win but failed despite having five match points. He then fell back to 0-2, missing several match points in the final stage and conceding to the German runner-up in the tiebreak.
Source: NOS
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
