Nadal clearly shaking off the rust in the first 3 games. Delbonis had a chance to capitalize off of Nadal's tentative start and was 2 pts away from a double break lead (0-2, 0*-30) but ultimately succumbed to Nadal's aura. After Nadal held, Delbonis proceeded to DF 2 times in a row and it was clear that he was getting nervous. Soon after, Nadal found most of his form and started swinging more confidently. Delbonis did well to keep it as competitive as he did, but after Nadal broke to serve for the 1st, it was basically one way traffic after that.
good come-back match, and surprisingly quick between points, nice if he can adapt to that new rule but I guess it might be different when matches will be less relaxed for him. He overall had a relaxed face, which I liked because usually I don't like his tortured face.
I stopped at 6-3 3-0, I had so much missed the "suspense" of Nadal's matches on clay :lol:
clearly he was playing very well in the first games of the second set
Conditions looked pretty heavy which isn't the kind of clay Nadal thrives the most on, but he looked pretty good. It seemed to me was hesitant to lunge hard out to his forehand especially early in the match.
Nah, Rafa isn't actually very sharp today, leaking quite a lot cheap UEs that he usually wouldn't. Del Bonis just can't put him under any pressure. Looking at the draw, the only potentially interesting match Nadal could have here is vs Chardy. When 'on, Chardy's forehand is one of the biggest weapons in tennis, even if not at his best he would still test Rafa's movement and sharpness far more than anyone else in the draw.
I meant the way he was playing, more varied and more aggressive. I think he tried to shorten the points. Part of the UEs were due to that, the other part obviously was due to lack of competition. If his knees don't bother him much, we could be in for a couple of platinum years (banking on Tsonga being more competitive as well).
I looked at my watch only a couple of times but he was surprisingly quick, clearly under 25 seconds.
I think there was one warning ... but to Delbonis who indeed was slower at times.
The umpire was Carlos Bernardes, that is an experienced guy whom Rafa quite likes, good choice if it had been necessary.
I hope Nadal can keep on like that, but we will see when Nadal has to face an opponent who makes him less relaxed.
Yesterday, he started very relaxed even though less after 0-2 0*-30.
Delbonis started well (Nadal was actually playing very short) but then made too many easy errors whereas Nadal was far from his level in the first set.
Nadal started the second set very well and it was over.
That's it. RG title is officially off the market. The owner is back. Djokovic, Murray and other clowns can stop dreaming now. And Fed should just kiss his one and only trophy and thank God for it.
That was a solid start from RAFA considering the fact that he was out for more than 7 months.
Looking forward to the clay swing and RG
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