He also took advantage of the fact that Nadal, a 22-time Grand Slam champion, was not playing at his best.
Nadal is still finding his form at the end of a strange, injury-plagued year that somehow could still end up being one of his best.
He could barely walk on his chronically injured left foot six weeks before the Australian Open and thought he might have to retire. Then he started to feel better, played one tournament before the year’s first Grand Slam, and then won it, coming back from two sets down in the final against Daniil Medvedev, the world No. 1.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/05/sports/tennis/us-open-nadal-tiafoe.html