Nadal: I feel green on grass surfaces
Rafa Nadal insists he’s feeling confident at Wimbledon – despite finding every day a battle on the grass courts.
The Spaniard looked at ease as he destroyed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach the second week at SW19.
It was his first meeting with the tough Frenchman in a Grand Slam in 11 years but he took under two hours to record a 6-2 6- 3 6-2 thirdround victory.
Nadal has not won the Wimbledon singles trophy since 2010 but looked every inch a title contender on Centre Court – and he’s starting to think that way too.
He said: “Every single day is a battle here. Grass is not a surface I play a lot of matches on during the year.
“It was important that I found a way to be in the second week despite a tough draw.
“That gives me positive feelings. I was returning well, playing aggressively with the forehand and backhand. I did a lot of things well.
“Tsonga is someone you don’t want to face in the third round at Wimbledon.
“But in general terms it was an amazing, positive win.”
Nadal, who overcame Nick Kyrgios in the previous round, never looked in danger.
He took his first break to lead 3-1 and polished off the opening set in 34 minutes with a second break of service.
Tsonga is fifth on the list of players with the most wins over Nadal but was never going to add to that and the 33-year-old’s solitary break in the second set allowed him to take it 6-3.
Back-to-back breaks in the third set made it the easiest of afternoons for Nadal as he wrapped it up in 1hr 48mins.
The Spaniard admits he was glad of a relatively easy passage to the second week.
He said: “I’ll have a day off to practice. It was not a big physical challenge so I’ll work hard on some specific things.”
Nadal will play Britain’s Dan Evans or Portugal’s Joao Sousa in the next round.