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Nadal: "A month and a half ago I didn't know if I would play again"

2022-01-17T14:18:40.925Z


The Spaniard comfortably resolved against Giron (6-1, 6-4 and 6-2, in 1h 49m) and signed his 70th victory in Melbourne after 220 days without competing on a big stage


With only three games in his legs, but with the opportune emotional refueling of the trophy obtained in the previous preparatory in Melbourne, Rafael Nadal resolved his premiere at the Australian Open without any setbacks or scratches.

A placid and adequate crossing, almost to order since the Balearic (6-1, 6-4 and 6-2, in 1h 49m) extracted what he had to extract: pass, shooting and sensations.

Hardworking but dull, Marcos Giron allowed him to test himself and experiment, reactivate the machinery and overcome the always tricky first round with a good grade and everything under control.

It is not little, considering where the Majorcan came from, injured for almost half a year (left foot, Müller-Weiss syndrome) and trapped by covid at the end of December.

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Nadal had not played a match in a major since he fell against Novak Djokovic in the Roland Garros semifinals. That is, from June 11; that is, 220 days, many, too many even for someone of the stature of the Balearic, who has not found it easy to return because when his foot did not block him, the coronavirus stopped him, just after making his return official at the exhibition of Abu Dhabi. Upon returning from the emirate, fevers, bed and muscle aches. A bad time. A recovery on the run and suspense because the incident could well have cut short the flight he quickly took to Melbourne, where he alternates setbacks –various physical mishaps before, during or after the tournament– with very remarkable results: the 2009 title and the finals of 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2019.

In fact, Nadal himself acknowledged after the match that he had many doubts about his future.

A full-fledged crossroads, buried, that this Monday he decided to tell.

"A month and a half ago I didn't know if I would play tennis again at a professional level due to several factors, including the problems I've had with my foot and with covid," he told the Eurosport channel.

“Sometimes I don't know if the fatigue is due to the six months that I was without competing or to the coronavirus.

I spent four days in bed and three more physically destroyed, ”he extended in the conference room.

7⃣ 0⃣ #AusOpen match-wins and counting 🙌@RafaelNadal kicks off his #AO2022 campaign in style with a straight-sets win over Marcos Giron.@wwos @espn @Eurosport @wowowtennis pic.twitter.com/PpzvHXL36B

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 17, 2022

He also recalled that the first confinement, in March 2020, took a considerable toll on him and damaged the chronic ailment that he has dragged on since the beginning of his professional career. “After those seven or eight weeks of confinement, everything got worse. Everything changed with his foot, he couldn't train regularly and had to compete with limitations. They were hard moments and many doubts, which are still there”, he indicated; “When you get older the comebacks get harder and harder and this one has been especially difficult because apart from the injury, I haven't played many tournaments in the last two years. I think there have been 12”, he specified, leaving two. They were 14.

Without Roger Federer (in the reserve since July) or Djokovic (deported for the reasons that have been told so much), alone for the first time, the 20-big champion has the opportunity to break the tie with the Swiss and the Serbian.

But that, he knows very well, involves going from station to station, jumping the dam of the first week and disembarking in the second with rhythm.

It was offered to him by Giron, 28 years old and 66th in the world.

A priori, a respectable stumbling block but one that did not entail excessive misgivings, and even less so as the pulse progressed and the American – of university education, diminished by a hip injury – showed that he had no blows to really threaten.

At 1.80m, right-handed and with a strong lower body, he has little to do with the groundbreaking stems produced by the North American factory.

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With blank bullets, Giron gave ground quickly and Nadal (35 years old) linked seven consecutive games from the first to the second set. He sealed the initial in 24 minutes and the second resisted him a little more, already trying more risky shots (34 definitive) and with the rival making the rubber, but maintaining order all the time. Supported by the serve (84% with the first), there was no crumb in the third. A relevant takeoff for the one from Manacor, in tune in its first appearance and on whose horizon names like Khachanov, Hurkacz, Zverev, Berrettini and who knows if Medvedev could appear in a hypothetical final episode. The last time he paraded through Melbourne he suffered a blowout against the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas and now he is trying to find himself again after another long break.

On the next scale, the Spaniard –70 victories in the great oceanic– will run into the German Yannick Hanfmann (126th, superior to Thanasi Kokkinakis) and history places him these days before a greater challenge: only Federer and Ken Rosewall conquered the Open of Australia over 35 years. Pablo Carreño (6-1, 6-2 and 7-6(2) over Tomás Etcheverry), Carlos Alcaraz (6-2, 6-2 and 6-3 over Alejandro Tabilo) and Pedro Martínez ( 7-6(15), 3-6, 6-4 and 6-2 to Federico Delbonis); Not so Feliciano López (6-1, 6-3, 4-7 and 7-5 for John Millman) or Carlos Taberner (6-1, 3-6, 6-4 and 6-1 for Dominik Koepfer).

In the women's, Paula Badosa overcame some physical problems in the adductor and, after winning the first set against Ajla Tomljanovic, put the turbo: 6-4 and 6-0.

He was accompanied by Sara Sorribes (6-4 and 6-1 to Kirsten Flipkens) and Nuria Párrizas (6-3 and 6-1 to Irina Bara), while Cristina Bucșa, dismounted by Alyson van Uytvanck (6 -4 and 6-4).

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Source: elparis

All sports articles on 2022-01-17

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