Rafa Nadal is already in Washington (United States), where he will resume the competition almost two months after playing his last game, that of the semifinals of Roland Garros who lost against Novak Djokovic. After passing the protocol PCR test, the Spaniard trained on one of the courts of the Rock Creek Park Tennis Center, where the Citi Open is held (August 2 to 8), the ATP 500 that will compete for the first time. There he is accompanied by Francis Roig, as a coach, and his inseparable physiotherapist, Rafa Maymó.
Nadal, who gave up being in the Olympics, will debut on Wednesday in the second round because it is exempt from the first thanks to his status as the first seed of a tournament to which he attends with an invitation. And you already know that your rival will come out of the match that Jack Sock and Yoshito Nishioka will play, two tennis players whom he has already faced. With the 28-year-old American and 201st in the world, he has a favorable 5-0 face to face and with the Japanese, 25 and 57th, the balance dominates him 2-0.
Among Nadal's main rivals for the title are Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alex de Miñaur, Grigor Dimitrov and Jannilk Sinner. Feliciano López, who has also received a wild card from the organizers, will face local Denis Kudla in the first round. The North American hard court tour has already kicked off in Atlanta, although Washington is the tournament that marks the true start of a season that will culminate in the US Open (August 30-September 12). Nadal's roadmap could go through sooner the 1,000 Masters of Canada (August 9-15) and Cincinnati (15-22).