Rafael Nadal's fans had a lot to smile about as the Spaniard looked fit and raring to go in his first practice session since arriving in Cincinnati ahead of next week's Cincinnati Open. He stepped onto the courts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center to get a feel of the conditions not long after landing in the city.
The Spaniard confirmed his participation at the Masters 1000 event in Ohio in a social media post on Wednesday and seems to have recovered from the abdominal injury that forced him to withdraw from the Canadian Open.
He has won the Cincinnati Open once so far, back in 2013, when he also won the Canadian Open and the US Open. He last played at the Cincinnati Open in 2017 and his first appearance at the venue in five years left fans thrilled, to say the least.
One fan reacted in amazement about Nadal recovering from yet another injury and also joked about it.
"Rafa be on his deathbed, the doctors contemplating whether to pull the plug and then he pops up healthy as a horse right before a slam," said a post on Twitter.
Nadal practiced with former player Marc Lopez, who is currently part of his coaching camp. In the video, he can be seen hitting a couple of routine groundstrokes before hitting a vintage forehand down the line.
Here are a few more reactions to the 22-time Grand Slam champion's first practice session in Cincinnati ahead of the 2022 Cincinnati Open:
Rafael Nadal has a chance to become World No. 1 after 2022 Cincinnati Open
Rafael Nadal stands a chance to enter the 2022 US Open as the new World No. 1. For that to happen, he needs to win the 2022 Cincinnati Open and current No. 1 Daniil Medvedev must lose before the quarterfinals.
Medvedev lost a sizeable chunk of points as he could not defend his Canadian Open title and lost as early as the second round this year. Meanwhile, the Spaniard did not lose any points in Canada despite not playing in the tournament as he had no points to defend.
The 36-year-old also has no points to defend at the Cincinnati Open, while Medvedev has to defend his points from last year's semifinal appearance. The Russian sits on 6,885 points ahead of Cincinnati, while Nadal is ranked third with 5,620 points.
Alexander Zverev sits at the No. 2 spot with 6,760 points and will drop 1000 points next week as he won the Cincinnati title last year.
Nadal has ended the season as the World No. 1 on five occasions and the last time he did so was in 2019. He has held the top spot in the rankings for a total of 209 weeks throughout his career.
What is the foot injury that has troubled Rafael Nadal over the years? Check here