Nadal kicks off US Open campaign against Golubev

Nadal kicks off US Open campaign against Golubev US Open defending champion Rafael Nadal will take the court in the marquee match on Tuesday night in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Spanish world No. 2 Rafael Nadal has had an abbreviated run-up to the US Open. A tough loss in his second round match in Montreal to Ivan Dodig and a quarterfinal ouster at the hands of Mardy Fish in Cincinnati leave the Spaniard short of match-play. With just four competitive matches on the North American hard courts, Nadal may have to work himself into form in New York.

But it may not be an altogether a bad thing either. Nadal has often come into the US Open exhausted from his summer efforts; he will be running on fresh legs, good news for 7 possible best of 5 matches.

Nadal’s first opponent will be Russian Andrey Golubev, ranked 98 in the world. Golubev is now quite a bit off his career high ranking of 33 in the world as recently as last October. He has even taken to playing some Challenger level events to get his ranking back up. The Russian played 3 tournaments on North American hard courts, advancing no further than the second round in any of them.

This should not be an overly challenging match for Nadal, provided that the burns he suffered on his fingers in Cincinnati have healed properly.