Using a new insert in his left tennis shoe, Nadal rebounded quickly, winning a hard-court tournament in Dubai in early March, beating Federer in the final. In April, he defeated Federer on clay to win in Monte Carlo, and a week later, he was in Barcelona where he beat another Spaniard, Tommy Robredo, for the title.
Nadal's quarter of the draw for the US Open is hardly the roughest. His first-round opponent is Mark Philippoussis, the Australian who rarely plays the way he did when he reached the US Open final in 1998.
But if Nadal is to make the transition from slightly melancholy New York tourist to champion, he will have to play much more convincing hard-court tennis than he has so far this year.
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