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Rafael Nadal
Photo:
John Walton/AP
The 22-time Grand Slam tournament winner Rafael Nadal has reached the second round of the grass classic in Wimbledon after some difficulties.
The 36-year-old defeated Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo 6: 4, 6: 3, 3: 6, 6: 4 and was far from in top form at his first appearance more than three weeks after his triumph at the French Open.
Nadal now meets the Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis.
Before the success in Paris, the Spaniard had already won at the Australian Open.
Against 23-year-old Cerundolo, however, Nadal had to work harder than expected after the first two sets.
At the beginning of the third set, the spectators on the packed Center Court experienced a moment of shock when Nadal slipped and fell.
But the Spaniard was unharmed.
The outsider Cerundolo, who has never survived the first round of a Grand Slam tournament, put his opponent under pressure, especially with a whipping forehand.
Although he was already ahead with a break, Nadal gave up the third round.
He was also behind in the fourth set before he turned around the game that seemed to be slipping away from him and cried out his relief after 3:33 hours.
It was Nadal's 306th win in one of the four biggest tennis tournaments in the world.
"Respect to Fran, he was a really tough opponent," said Nadal: "I haven't set foot on a grass pitch in three years for various reasons.
The win is the most important thing today, it gives me the opportunity to train again tomorrow." Nadal's last of his two Wimbledon victories was twelve years ago, he last served there in 2019.
Before the game, the Spaniard reported that he had relieved the chronic pain in his left foot with a special therapy.
Nadal has been suffering from Müller-Weiss Syndrome, a rare and degenerative disease, for several years.
36 wins – Swiatek extends the
series
World number one Iga Swiatek has won her opening game at Wimbledon with her 36th win in a row.
The 21-year-old Pole beat Croatian qualifier Jana Fett 6-0, 6-3 in 75 minutes on Tuesday and extended her impressive series.
Swiatek showed unusual problems in the second set, but was able to turn a 1:3 deficit.
She had recently won the French Open and the previous five tournaments.
However, Swiatek has never reached a WTA final on grass.
In the second round of Wimbledon she meets Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove from the Netherlands.
Maria reaches second round – sextet around
Petkovic
out
The successful start from a German perspective was followed by a day full of defeats: only five of the 13 German tennis professionals in Wimbledon remained after the first round.
On Tuesday, three male and three female players, including Andrea Petkovic, lost their matches.
Only Tatjana Maria won the continuation of her game, which had been canceled the night before.
She followed former tournament winner Angelique Kerber, Jule Niemeier, Oscar Otte and Maximilian Marterer into the second round with a 4:6, 6:3, 6:4 against Australian Astra Sharma.
All five are back in action on Wednesday.
In addition to Petkovic (4: 6, 3: 6 against Viktorija Golubic from Switzerland), Daniel Altmaier, Nicola Kuhn, Dominik Koepfer, Tamara Korpatsch and Nastasja Schunk were eliminated.
ngo/dpa/sid