Fit and firing Nadal, Sharapova blaze into second round
MELBOURNE — Rafael Nadal has missed a lot of tennis since last September, but he hasn’t missed a beat.
The No 2-seeded Nadal had a 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 win over Australian wildcard entry James Duckworth on Monday in the first round of the Australian Open, the Spaniard’s first match back at Rod Laver Arena since he had to retire during his quarterfinal match last year.
The 17-time major winner hasn’t played since retiring from his semifinal at the US Open because of a knee injury, and then had surgery on his right ankle in November.
He also withdrew from a tune-up tournament in Brisbane because of a muscle strain in his thigh, mainly as a precaution, to ensure he was fit for the season-opening major.
“Not easy to come back after a lot of months of competition, especially against a player playing super aggressive every shot,” Nadal said.
“It’s very difficult to start after an injury — I know it very well. It’s very special to be back.”
The 32-year-old showed no signs of any issues against Duckworth. His only hiccup came when he served for the match in the ninth game of the third set and was broken at love. But he returned the favor very quickly to seal his spot in the second round.
Nadal has only lost twice in the first round at Grand Slams — to Steve Darcis at the 2013 Wimbledon, and to Fernando Verdasco here in 2016 — and is aiming to be the first man in the Open era two win all four majors at least twice.
On the women’s side, Maria Sharapova was the first of five Australian Open winners to play on Rod Laver Arena on day one, starting with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Harriet Dart.
No 2-ranked Angelique Kerber, the 2016 Australian Open champion, opened with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Polona Hercog.
Sharapova has the second-best record among active female players in first-round matches at the majors, and gave an illustration of why that’s the case in a 63-minute disposal of Dart.
The 2008 champion is making her 15th appearance at Melbourne Park and her 55th at a Grand Slam tournament, so she’s acutely aware of the toll that the sun and long early matches can have on a player’s title ambitions.
Stung by a first-round loss at Wimbledon last year, Sharapova said she couldn’t afford to feel any empathy for Dart.
“I’m sorry to say ... when you’re playing the first round of a Grand Slam, there’s no time for that,” said Sharapova, who is still feeling pain in her right shoulder despite sitting out the end of last season after the US Open.
“I think it’s very easy to be in a position where things are flowing, you know, you’re doing all the right things, she’s making a few errors, you’re comfortable, easy to get complacent, and, you know, complacency is not great. I was glad that I did the right things from the beginning till the end.”