Rafael Nadal cuts own nose with racket during chaotic four-set win against Fabio Fognini in US Open 2022

Rafael Nadal battled through to the third round of the US Open with a four-set victory over Fabio Fognini, in which the Spaniard bizarrely cut his own nose with his racket.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion was left bleeding in the fourth set when his racket bounced off the court and hit him in the face after stretching to play a backhand.

He required a medical timeout and held a bottle to his nose before the treatment, which resulted in Nadal playing with a plaster for the remainder of the match.

Nadal admitted to feeling “dizzy” initially, but he was able to close out the fourth set 6-1 to complete an impressive comeback 2-6 6-4 6-2 6-1 win, with a meeting against Richard Gasquet up next.

Asked if he was okay on-court afterwards, Nadal said: “Well, yeah, just a little bit dizzy at the beginning, a little bit painful.

“[I’ve done it before] with a golf club, but not with a tennis racket.”

The victory meant it was the 14th straight time Nadal has reached the third round of the US Open, while he avenged the third-round defeat suffered to Fognini back in 2015.

Another shock looked on the cards when Fognini cruised to the first set, with the Italian clinically breaking Nadal on two occasions.

A crucial second set was also one of Nadal’s more chaotic sets of 2022, with the pair breaking one another every time during the first five games. That was enough to hand Fognini the advantage with a 3-2 lead, although after he held serve he went on to drop it two more times as Nadal battled to level the match with a 6-4 set.

From there, Nadal turned it up a gear, breaking Fognini in three straight service games to take the third set 6-2.

And the fourth set was even more routine – bar the nose cut – with two breaks all that was required for a 6-1 set.

“One of the worst starts, probably ever,” Nadal said on a night he hit 37 unforced errors. “But that’s part of the game.

“You need to stay humble, you need to accept the situation. It hasn’t been an easy month for me, so I know this kind of stuff can happen. It’s another opportunity for me. I’m still alive after a match like this. That means a lot.”

Nadal takes on Gasquet, boasting a 17-0 record against the 36-year-old Frenchman, who reached the third round after beating No. 32 seed Miomir Kecmanovic in four sets.

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