Wimbledon 2018: Rafael Nadal insists he will not pay for lack of grass-court matches after win over Dudi Sela

Nadal believes that he will not pay for his lack of grass-court matches in the build-up to Wimbledon

Paul Newman
Wimbledon
Tuesday 03 July 2018 18:17 BST
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Rafael Nadal believes that he will not pay for his lack of grass-court matches in the build-up to Wimbledon. The world No 1 came through his first test here on Tuesday in impressive style, beating Israel’s Dudi Sela 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.

After winning his 11th French Open title last month Nadal pulled out of the Fever-Tree Championships at Queen’s Club, which had been his only scheduled warm-up tournament on grass. The 32-year-old Spaniard had played 27 matches in the clay-court season and said that he needed a rest.

It was the second year in a row that Nadal had pulled out of Queen’s after winning at Roland Garros. He eventually lost to Gilles Muller in the fourth round here last year and has not reached the quarter-finals at the All England Club since 2011.

“I had a long clay-court season, a lot of matches, and I’ve had a lot of problems in terms of physical injuries during my career,” Nadal said after beating Sela.

“Of course, I would love to have played at Queen's. That was on my schedule. But after playing the final of Roland Garros and playing so many matches on clay, for my knees, the drastic changes are not good. So we decided to stop for a couple of days and then to start step-by-step on grass.

“I did the same last year and it worked well. I lost here in the fourth round, but I felt I was in a position to fight for important things. For me the most important thing is being healthy. That's always the priority.”

Rafa Nadal beat Dudi Sela 6-3, 6-3, 6-2

Nadal’s game was in decent order against Sela. Although there were times when the Spaniard did not appear comfortable with his returns, his forehand looked in good shape and he served well.

“It was a good start,” he said. “I did some things very well, though there were others that I have room to improve.”

Dominic Thiem, the world No 7, once again failed to find his clay-court form on grass and retired hurt with what appeared to be a back injury when trailing 6-4, 7-5, 2-0 to Marcos Baghdatis. Thiem, who was runner-up to Nadal in Paris last month, never looked comfortable against Baghdatis, who has always performed well on this surface.

David Goffin, the No 10 seed, also went out when he was beaten 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 by Matthew Ebden in just 93 minutes. Ebden’s fellow Australian, Nick Kyrgios, opened his campaign in spectacular fashion by hitting 42 aces in a 7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 victory over Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin. Alexander Zverev, the No 4 seed, beat James Duckworth 7-5, 6-2, 6-0.

Feliciano Lopez broke Roger Federer’s record of 65 consecutive appearances in Grand Slam tournaments when he beat Federico Delbonis 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

Novak Djokovic enjoyed a comfortable 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 victory over the American Tennys Sandgren, who was making his Wimbledon debut. The Serb’s 59th match victory at the All England Club put him level with John McEnroe in fifth place on the men’s all-time list.

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