Rafael Nadal says that despite being physically exhausted from his effort at the Olympics, he expects to be ready for the U.S. Open.
Nadal, who won the doubles gold and reached the singles semifinals in Rio de Janeiro, came straight to Cincinnati, where he lost to Borna Coric in the third round. He will take at least one day off before starting to train for the U.S. Open.
"I think I need to recover emotionally, physically,” he said,” and especially, I need to give some rest to the wrist, the arm, to everything.”
It was just his second event since a wrist injury prompted him to withdraw from the French Open mid-tournament. However, the Spaniard did not second-guess his decision to play Cincinnati.
"I didn't want to be back home,” he said. “I spent enough time at home. I needed to keep practicing, keep playing, and that's why I am here and that's why I'm not going to come back to Spain before the U.S. Open."
The wrist is still not perfect, according to Nadal, but it held up during a week-and-a-half of regular competition.
"The wrist is still the same," he said. "With more rest, the wrist will not go better. The wrist needs to adapt again to the game; needs to adapt again to hit the ball."
But despite his layoff, he is confident in his fitness for best-of-five-set matches in Flushing Meadows.
"Worked a lot at home, and I practiced," said Nadal. "In the Olympics, I played like best of five. Played two matches every day, and [spent] four-and-a-half, five hours on court some days."
Nadal is No. 5 in the rankings.