Nadal hits top gear
To Rafa Nadal’s extraordinary list of achievements in Paris, the nine-times French Open champion might well add ‘Master of Understatement’.
“I think I played a good match,” the Spaniard offered, almost as a question, when asked about his form in thrashing Robin Haase 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.
There would be few in the Roland Garros crowds on Wednesday who would disagree with that analysis - least of all Dutchman Haase, who appeared shell-shocked at the end.
“I think I did a lot of things well this afternoon,” Nadal added, with almost comedic understatement.
Nadal was irresistible. Pummelling the ball with such force that it appeared distorted into an oval shape at times, he was able to toy with his opponent until ready to finish him off.
The hour spent drilling forehand after forehand on the main showcourt in the morning before fans were admitted had been time well spent.
Certainly Nadal seemed to be enjoying himself in warm Parisian sunshine, the conditions suiting his game and giving his groundstrokes a little extra zip.
“It’s true that if sun there, between 18 and 25 degrees, normally is good for me, because the ball flies and we have good bounces on my forehand, especially,” the 30-year-old said.
Nadal, who next plays Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili, deflected any talk about his uncle, Toni, stepping down as his coach.
Nadal’s old friend and former Roland Garros winner Carlos Moya, and former tennis pro Francisco Roig, will take on the full-time duties of coaching the player, while Toni takes a back seat.
“Toni is the most important person in my tennis career without a doubt. So a lot of things that I achieved are because he was there since I was threeyears-old, helping,” Nadal said.
Meanwhile, Andre Agassi was undeniable at the French Open on Wednesday as his new charge Novak Djokovic romped to a second-round win.
Almost as many cameras were trained on the US tennis star as were trained on Djokovic throughout the latter’s 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 dismantling of Portugal’s Joao Sousa.
Reigning champion Djokovic teamed up with 1999 champion Agassi in a dream-team player-coach combination just before the start of the tournament.
Already the signs were good on Court Suzanne Lenglen. There was a spring in the step of the world number two that had seemed missing in recent months.
“Well, that’s what these ‘Super-coaches’ give you,” forme world No. 1and triple French champion Mats Wilander told Reuters.
“They help you with all the little things. Obviously, they know what it is like, they know what you need to be a champion.”
Djokovic looked every bit a champion as he controlled his opponent throughout, with Agassi closely monitoring from courtside, a look of concern occasionally clouding his mien.
But Agassi needn’t have worried. Having raced through the first set in a little over half an hour, second seed Djokovic established his rhythm and then just pulled away.
He next meets Argentine Diego Schwartzman in the third round.
Renzo Olivo’s energy and hunger for success cost Jo-Wilfried Tsonga a place in the second round of Roland Garros, the French 12th seed said after his shock exit by Argentine on Wednesday.
Tsonga, 32, bowed out after saving three match points in the only game played on day four of the tournament after the match was interrupted by fading light on Tuesday, eventually losing 7-5, 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-4 to the 25-year-old Olivo, who is playing in his first French Open.
“He really wanted to do his best and it showed,” Tsonga told reporters. “He’s young. He’s angry. It’s his first Roland Garros, so for him it’s something huge. Yeah, he took his chance, and he did it. “He was full of energy.” Tsonga acknowledged that he had struggled for rhythm after making 73 unforced errors during the contest.
“I didn’t have the best feeling yesterday or even today,” he added. “I never really found the right pace... [but] I fought with the weapons I had. I gave my best all the way to the end.
“The ball didn’t really leave my racket the way I would have wanted it to, and if I knew what went wrong, I would have changed it. The ball didn’t seem to go exactly where I wanted it to. That’s it.”
Tsonga’s victory at last week’s Lyon Open put him in contention to become the first Frenchman to lift the Musketeers’ Cup since Yannick Noah in 1983, and the irony of falling at the very first hurdle was not lost on him.
“Last week I won my first-ever clay tournament and today I lost at the French Open. It’s the paradox of tennis,” he added. “What I’m interested in is the future, and I hope I’ll play better in the next tournaments.
“Tennis runs in cycles. There are victories. There are disappointments. I think the most important is to remain as (emotionally) stable and consistent as possible... because if you work well, you’re always rewarded at some point. “If it’s not today, it will be another day.”
(Reuters)