Rafael Nadal begins his quest for a US Open title
September 2, 2009 by Marc Jerbs

Rafael Nadal hopes to resuscitate his career after being beaten for the first time in his career at Roland Garros. He rested his aching knees for two months, unable to defend his Wimbledon title and was also dislodged on top of the world ranking. He's a little rusty when he played in Cincinnati and Montreal before the US Open.

We all knew that Nadal has emerged as one of the tennis superstar that every fan adores. He has won six Grand Slam titles at age 23 and has a lot more tennis matches left in career. But it seems like his knees have started to give in because of the way he plays his brand of tennis. Nadal is a very tenacious player, he covers every angle of a tennis court and runs a lot during his matches. I think he needs to tinker a little bit his playing style to protect his knees and eventually prolong his career.

Rafael Nadal begins his quest on Wednesday against his friend Richard Gasquet. These two tennis stars knew each other way back in their teenage years. Both have blossomed their careers in the ATP although Nadal has won 6 times against Gasquet in their head-to-head match up.

Richard Gasquet is also in a comeback trail in the tennis circuit. He was slapped with a 2½ month suspension after testing positive for cocaine in a tournament in Florida last March. He was emotionally and physically drained during his well publicized trail. After his suspension, he also played a series of games before the US Open. Ironically, he will meet his friend Nadal on his return to a Grand Slam tournament.

Both players may have jitters during the start of their match up but expect them to shrug it off and fight it toe-to-toe tomorrow. Sports aficionados have installed Rafael Nadal as the overwhelming favorite to beat his friend Richard Gasquet for the seventh time.