Former US Open champion Marin Cilic is looking for ways to revive his career and tennis legend Rafael Nadal is here to his rescue. The 22-time Grand Slam champion’s academy Rafael Nadal Academy is all set to host the Rafa Nadal Open by Movistar. It will be an ATP Challenger tournament which will take place at the King of Clay’s academy from August 26 to September 1.
And Cilic will be participating in it after missing out on almost 2 years on the Tour due to injuries. The last time Cilic had won an ATP Challenger title was in 2007, when he claimed the Casablanca and Rijeka double. It will be interesting to see if he can bag his third title after 17 years.
The tournament can be the 2014 US Open winner’s second chance to catch public attention and regain the love he has been missing for years now.
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The former World No.3 last competed against the Spaniard at the 2019 US Open Round of 16. The Spaniard got better of Cilic, who could only win the second set.
Nadal vs Cilic US Open 2019 clash will always be memorable
It was an epic clash as both players put up a great show for the audience at Flushing Meadows. Nadal stole the first set from the Croatian with some trademark quick hits. However, Cilic managed to push himself and grab the second set and the competitiveness set up an iconic moment in tennis history.
After serving for the match being 5-2 up in the fourth set at 30-0, he scooted the ball around the net post to set the audience roaring as they witnessed the historic moment. It also included Tiger Woods, the golfing legend, pumping his fist in delight for his champion friend winning the point in that fashion.
The win was crucial for the 4-time US Open champion to enter the quarterfinals of the slam. He then went on to beat Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman, Italy’s Matteo Berrettini and Russia’s Daniil Medvedev to lift the title for one final time at the age of 33.
Coming to the US Open 2024, Nadal has opted out of the singles tournament despite putting his name up initially in the entries list. Interestingly, both Nadal and Cilic had fallen off the top 200 of the rankings in recent years because of being out of action.
While Nadal is now ranked 156th because of some match wins in the 2024 season against the likes of Alex de Minaur and Dominic Thiem, Cilic is 582nd ranked in the world in singles. So it is all set to be a ‘Last Dance’ of sorts for the Croatian as well starting from the Challenger Tour.
