World number one Rafael Nadal is feeling rested and ready as he looks to defend his US Open title.
The Spaniard has put together back-to-back major crowns only at the French Open — where he has won 11 of his 17 Grand Slam titles.
A year ago at Flushing Meadows, he mowed down a men's field that was missing five of the top-ranked 11 men, with Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and 2016 US Open champion Stan Wawrinka among the injured absentees.
His brutally one-sided victory over South African Kevin Anderson in his third Grand Slam final of the year gave him a second major of 2017— after two years in which he failed to reach a Slam final.
"last year has been a very special year after a couple of years," Nadal said Friday. This year the men's field features a full complement of the world's top-ranked players and seven former US Open champions, but Nadal believes he's had an ideal build up, starting with a hardcourt Masters title in Toronto.
"That's important for the feelings, for the confidence," Nadal said. "That gave me a chance to rest the week after in Cincinnati."
After scooping his 80th career title — and his 33rd Masters 1000 — the 32-year-old pulled out of Cincinnati to focus on his US Open prep.
"I was resting from competing, not resting from working," said Nadal, adding that as the tournament draws closer the signs are all encouraging.
"The last couple of days (before the tournament) is the moment to understand, that you really realize if you are better, you are worse — when you start to put the full mind on what you're doing."
He's set to open his campaign on Monday with what promises to be an emotional 31st career encounter with his good friend and Davis Cup teammate David Ferrer, a former world number three who has slipped out of the top 100 and will retire at the end of the year.
The quarter-finals could bring a rematch of last year's final against fifth-seeded Anderson — who reached the final at Wimbledon this year.
Despite last year's lopsided victory, Nadal said Anderson would pose a serious threat. "He's a player that's always improving," Nadal said of Anderson.
Halep looks confident
Simona Halep, her number one ranking secure and a Grand Slam title on her resume, is riding high heading into the US Open but that doesn't mean she's taking anything for granted.
"I don't feel the pressure," said the 26-year-old Romanian, whose intensity on the court hasn't always worked to her advantage.
A victory in the French Open — after disappointments in three Grand Slam finals —confirmed for Halep that she had truly arrived at the top.
"Inside myself something changed," she said. "I'm more relaxed. These two were my dreams — to be number one in the world and to win a Grand Slam. Always I say number one in the world without a Grand Slam, you are not a real number one.
"After the French Open, I really started to believe that I'm a real number one."
It's a tried and true approach, and a perhaps a wise one for a player who could come up against 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams in the fourth round.
If she makes it, the semi-finals could produce a third clash of 2018 with defending US Open champion Sloane Stephens.
The two have proved compelling rivals, with Halep getting the better of the American in the Roland Garros final and again in a rollercoaster final in Montreal two weeks ago.
But Stephens is reluctant to call it a "rivalry," glumly noting Friday that "it's not a rivalry if you don't beat the person".
"Eventually, I'm going to get her," Stephens insisted. "Hopefully, it will be soon."