Nadal healthy and happy heading into US Open final
September 9, 2017 05:16 MYT
As a 16th grand slam title looms for Rafael Nadal at the US Open, happiness is what matters to the Spanish world number one.
Top seed Nadal produced a stunning rally to blitz 2009 champion Juan Martin del Potro 4-6 6-0 6-3 6-2 in Friday's semi-final at Flushing Meadows.
Nadal – the French Open winner – will contest his third slam final of the year against South Africa's Kevin Anderson, and the 23rd of his illustrious career.
But there are more important things to the 15-time major champion, given the 31-year-old's run of injuries in recent years.
"For me what is more important, more than win slams is be happy. I am happy if I am healthy and happy, if I feel competitive in the most of the weeks that I am playing, and that's what happened this year," Nadal, who has two US Open crowns to his name, said. "So I am very happy about what happened, very happy to win Monte-Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid and Roland Garros. I am very happy to be in the final here in the US Open.
"As I tell you before, for me, more than winning grand slams or not, of course, if I win, I will be more happy but is about being healthy and feel myself well and competitive. That's already happened in the whole season. That's most important thing for me."
It was a crushing display from Nadal, who was forced to take a backseat to the power and precision of the 24th-seeded Del Potro in the opening set.
Del Potro had saved two match points against Dominic Thiem in the last 16 and stunned Roger Federer in the quarter-finals, but Nadal reeled off nine successive games to claim a second-set bagel and complete control of the match on Arthur Ashe stadium, where Tiger Woods and Leonardo DiCaprio were in attendance.
"Important day for me," Nadal told reporters. "Important victory against a great opponent. He came to that match with confidence after beating Roger, Dominic, too. A lot of the matches he played this tournament have been a tough one. But at the same time, I think I played a solid match.