Nadal moved past the Brazilian 6-4 6-2 6-4 with relative comfort to book a second-round meeting with Dustin Brown, having shown mixed form on the grass in the run-up to Wimbledon. It poured out of him, like the sweat which dripped from his brow, in a way that didn’t befit a first-round win from a man who has cast a vast shadow across the game.
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Some insouciance was restored by the time Nadal arrived to talk about his three-set win over Thomaz Bellucci – a deceptively comfortable margin – but he first scrutinised the sheet of match statistics in front of him and there seemed to be something significant in that. Despite some loose shots Nadal looked healthy – which hasn’t always been the case the past few years – and was moving well, attacking the net with great success winning 17-of-19 net points. This year I am not playing as well, but I can’t really change many things.
Asked about this perception, Nadal will generally grimace and say that his gear is just not as tight-fitting as it was back then, but that was not the impression as he traded blows with the Brazilian, struggling to finish him off with power. True, Nadal hit more unforced errors than winners in the match (21-23), but his forehand, which Nadal lost confidence in earlier this season, was struck cleanly and forcefully.
But Nadal said: “I have my time”.
“I played a solid match, with some problems on my serve, but no bad feelings”, Nadal said. Anything can happen.
The 2008 and 2010 victor hasn’t advanced past the fourth round since 2011, but started brightly today with a 6-4 victory in the first set.
“He beat me past year in Halle”. He’s a tough player. With the good motivations and hard work I will come back. And Bellucci’s only grass-court preparation was a 7-6(7), 3-6, 4-6 defeat to talented young Alexander Zverev in Nottingham.
The Swiss second seed’s pursuit of a record eighth title at the All England Club couldn’t have started more convincingly as he broke the Wimbledon debutant five times to draw rapturous applause from the Federer faithfuls who had flocked to see their hero on Centre Court.
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“You can’t change your basic style – or it is not good to do that” Nadal told the Guardian.
