WHAT HAPPENED: Returning to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for the first time since 2019, when he raised the fourth US Open trophy of his career, Rafael Nadal turned back an upset bid from Australian wild card Rinky Hijikata on Tuesday night, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3.
The No. 2 seed is now a perfect 20-0 in Grand Slam play this season with titles at the Australian Open and Roland Garros, his lone setback a semifinal pull-out at Wimbledon due to an abdominal tear, an injury that cost him a shot at the calendar-year Grand Slam.
“It’s been a long wait,” said the Spaniard, some 1,087 days removed from his last appearance in Flushing Meadows. “For some time, I thought maybe I wouldn’t be able to come back. But here I am. I’m super happy. The night sessions here in New York are the best without a doubt.”
It was the former North Carolina Tarheel Hijikata, 21, who would strike first in his Grand Slam main-draw debut. The 198th-ranked baseliner put away a lob with Nadal serving at 3-all, 30-40, in the opener to grab the break, then served out the stanza three games later at the 44-minute mark.
Nadal hadn’t dropped the opening set in the first round of a major since 2016, when he went down to fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in an epic five-setter, 7-6(6), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2.
The 36-year-old Nadal eventually found his footing in the second set, opening the stanza with a service break of his own and consolidating with a love hold. He would assume control from there, capitalizing on four of his nine break-point opportunities, and finishing with 42 winners to 22 unforced errors.
To his credit, Hijikata flashed plenty of fight and some elite all-court speed throughout the three-hour, seven-minute match, but couldn’t sustain the level he had summoned in taking the opening set. He managed to save five match points in a thrilling final game before Nadal closed it out with a down-the-line forehand winner.
“It’s about being humble enough to accept the process, to build on the positive things day after day in the practices,” said Nadal.
Nadal had played just one match since Wimbledon, falling to eventual first-time ATP Masters 1000 titlist Borna Coric in the second round in Cincinnati, 7-6(9), 4-6, 6-3. The 36-year-old admitted that, due to the abdominal tear, he had to take things slowly with his serve. But he appeared to be going all-out on Day 2 in Arthur Ashe Stadium, where he charted nine aces and won 44 of 57 (77%) first-serve points.
The all-time leader in Grand Slam men’s singles titles with 22, Nadal remains in the running for a return to world No. 1 for the first time in more than two years.
WHAT IT MEANS: Nadal will face a familiar foe in Round 2 in Italian veteran Fabio Fognini, who stormed back from two sets down for the eighth time in his career to dismiss Aslan Karatsev, 1-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4, on Court 13.
They have faced each other on 17 occasions, perhaps none more memorable than Fognini’s 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 upset of Nadal in the third round of the 2015 US Open. Despite that defeat, Nadal leads the overall head-to-head, 13-4.
MATCH POINT: This is the first Grand Slam tournament in which two of the top three seeds are Spaniards (Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz) since the 2014 Australian Open, when Nadal was the top seed and David Ferrer was No. 3.
Watch Rafael Nadal's Round 1 press conference
