Nadal still seeking his extra gear
THE man of many tics keeps ticking over. We are yet to see the best of Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon, but he is fidgeting and twitching his way through the generous half of the draw. So far that has meant a four-set hobble past a debutant on Monday and another in this moderate slog against the limited weaponry of Ricardas Berankis last night.
On paper it will resemble decent progress, but on grass everything becomes a little more complicated for Nadal and conceding an aggregate of two sets and six service games to players with a combined ranking of 147 is less than intimidating. Novak djokovic, at the other extreme of the ladder, will not be shuddering. The relief for Nadal is he has time to adjust to the green stuff under his chronically painful feet. That is because defeats and Covid have stripped a number of serious contenders from the 36-year-old’s section, the upshot being that he will not meet anyone ranked higher than the 11th seed Taylor Fritz before the semi-finals.
While no one would wager against Nadal in a year when he has already won the Australian and French opens, there were a few profound warnings in his handling of Berankis, the world No 106. The match never felt as fraught as it did in his first against Francisco Cerundolo, but he did trail to breaks in the second and third sets and was unusually loose on his forehand. It was also jarring to see him beaten in many longer rallies. But all’s well that ends well and Nadal ended the match well. ‘It was not the best start and probably the best finish,’ said the Spaniard. ‘The fourth set has been the level of tennis for me. The rest of the things I have room to improve.’
The fear remains that irrespective of how anyone plays at this tournament, a Covid positive could render all efforts pointless. It was noticeable yesterday that Nadal’s agent, Carlos Costa, was walking the grounds in a mask and making a point of bumping elbows rather than shaking hands. Nadal disclosed he has effectively put himself under house arrest.
He said: ‘A good friend of mine today pulled out, Roberto Bautista Agut, with another case. I am not doing many things now, just staying here and in the house.’
His opening set was almost as uneventful, with a break at 5-4 adding some life. The picture in the second was different as Berankis broke for 2-1, but Nadal responded with breaks at 3-2 and 5-4.
The Lithuanian was never dead and buried and showed as much by taking the third set following a break at the start, though that fired up Nadal for the fourth. He broke to love in the second game and after a rain delay finished his opponent off under the roof. Next up is Lorenzo Sonego, the 27th seed, and a harsher test.