More than 23,000 concerned pair of eyes on Arthur Ashe Stadium zoomed in on Rafael Nadals stomach on Sunday,as he lay flat on his back with his canary yellow shirt pulled up to his chest. With a white towel covering his face,there was no way to guess the pain or the torment Nadal was going through as it seemed his injury jinx had struck again during his US Open third-round match against childhood friend Nicolas Almagro. While the Spaniard shielded himself from peering eyes,a tournament trainer went about his business by quickly spraying and taping Nadals stomach during the three-minute medical time out. After resuming the third set at 2-1 down,Nadal grimaced on several occasions as he poked the afflicted area between points but hung on to beat fellow Spaniard Almagro 7-5 6-4 6-4. Match over,there was only one topic tennis followers wanted to discuss. I know everybody want to talk about the injury. I really dont want to talk about that. Thats the thing, said the world number three,who was sidelined during June and July with tendinitis in both knees.
