RUSTY RAFA HAS TO DIG DEEP
Nadal avoids another shock first-round exit to join 700 club
RAFAEL NADAL gritted his teeth, wiped his brow and looked to t he s ky after winning on grass for the first time in two years. He had become only the 11th player in the open era to win 700 tour-level matches but his expression told a story of relief, not records, after he battled back to beat Martin Klizan 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
The murmurs began among the Centre Court crowd as the Slovakian, unknown to all but the tennis fanatics in attendance, served out to take the first set over the world No 1. After being bundled out in the first round at Wimbledon last year by tour journeyman Steve Darcis, was Nadal about to take another early bow?
The Spaniard shuffled to his seat, peeled off his top — much to the delight of some spectators — and could have been forgiven for posing himself that very question.
But doubts like that are for mere mortals, not for great warriors like Nadal, who denied his thoughts had wandered to Darcis or Lukas Rosol, the Czech who knocked him out in 2012.
‘When you are in a match, you are not thinking about what happened last year or two years ago,’ he said, ‘You’re thinking about the next point, you’re thinking about finding a solution for that match.’ In a curious twist, Nadal will face Rosol in the next round, the same stage at which the Czech triumphed in a five-set blockbuster. But Nadal is not one to entertain talk of bogeymen. ‘I lost because he’s a good player,’ he said. ‘He plays very well on this surface and it will be a tough match again. I know if I want to have chances to win, I need to play very well.’
Klizan might be 51 in the world — 50 places behind Nadal — but he is no slouch, as evidenced by his ATP Newcomer of the Year award in 2012 and the way he attacked from the first point.
The 24- year- old i mmediately raced to three break points, which Nadal saved. But the Spaniard was broken in the ninth game of the set and looked jaded, perhaps feeling the effects of the run to his 15th Grand Slam title at Roland Garros earlier this month.
In Halle last week he lost to world No 78 Dustin Brown and admitted he is struggling to make the transition from clay to grass with only two weeks between the conclusion of the French Open and the start of Wimbledon.
‘Mentally and physically you play a long clay-court season,’ he said. ‘If you are able to win Roland Garros, you have already played for a long time at your top level — mentally and physically. It is normal to go down a little bit. The grass deserves to have one more week, as it will next year. For the players who are able to play very well and long on clay, having this extra week will help.
‘It is always a bit more dangerous physically when you are finishing Roland Garros on Sunday and you have to play again on Wednesday.
‘It’s tough to make the right preparation for the tournament. You don’t have a lot of time to prepare and to play matches on grass but the best players are able to do it.’
Nadal looked the least comfortable of the top four in the opening round but once he has battled through the early stages and found his feet on the greens of SW19, you sense a third Wimbledon title could be on the cards. He woul d become only t he second man after Bjorn Borg to win at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year on three occasions.
This was a workmanlike and confidence-boosting victory f or Nadal after more than three hours on court but there were some magic moments. In the fourth set he slipped, got up and smacked a backhand diagonally which dipped inside the line to set up a break point, which he duly converted for the double break.
Klizan fought valiantly, got one break back and forced Nadal to save a break point as he served out for the match. First round victories for world No 1s are rarely celebrated so expansively.