We seem to have been here before. Just like last year, Rafael Nadal is in town and making his way back from an injury break. And just like last year, he is doing a pretty mean Lazarus impersonation.
For a man who has not played competitively since last November and who spent a sizeable chunk of the off-season doing nothing as he waited for his knees to stop throbbing, the world No.1 is looking remarkably relaxed and awfully impressive.
He dealt with a spirited but ultimately futile challenge from Leonardo Mayer 6-3 6-4 7-6 (4) and looked very happy about it.
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“It’s an important victory for me against a tough opponent,” Rafa said. “Leonardo hits the ball so strong – you just see the last couple of games: I had to hit some great shots in the tiebreak. He’s a very dangerous opponent. “For not being in competition in a while, it’s the second victory in a row so that is very good news for me. For my team and my family, this tournament is the favourite of the year so I want to stay here as long as possible.”
If we are going to split hairs, the first set could have been a bit tidier. Oh, sure, Rafa won it (in four previous meetings with Mayer, he has only dropped one set), but there were break points that went begging, there were game points that drifted away from him.
When a chap is chasing a second Australian Open title, one that would give him a second career Grand Slam – and only Roy Emerson and Rod Laver ever achieved that before, neither of them in the Open era – a chap’s followers expect perfection.
Then again, a chap’s followers were not the ones taking on the world No.50 from Argentina.
The last time these two met was at the US Open last September and that was when Mayer finally prised a set from Rafa’s grasp. Not that it mattered, mind you. Rafa, newly restored to the No.1 position as he headed to New York, won that day and then went on to win the title. And given that he had never lost a second round match in Melbourne, he showed very little inclination to do anything but win on Wednesday.
Getting things done swiftly and efficiently was the order of the day. The weather was warming up and while it was still a very pleasant 31 degrees Celsius, the forecasters were predicting a serious increase in the coming couple of days. It was time to start conserving energy for the challenges to come.
Certainly the sweat was flowing freely from both men as they set about their work. For Mayer, this was a slightly unfortunate as his beige shorts soon became positively see-through once they were drenched (which only took a handful of games). Fortunately, he was wearing sturdy underthings or else this match could have been R rated. Or worse.
At least the sleeveless Nadal had a little more air circulating around his musculature.
That shirt of his has become the topic of some debate in Melbourne Park and the good people of AO Radio discussed Raf’s fashion sense at some length. Their conclusion was that in this new era of shot clocks in the qualifying rounds and umpires being extra vigilant over time spent between points, Raf’s muscle top is an attempt to speed him up.
The routine that must be followed to the very letter between each point has now been shortened as he has no sleeves to fiddle with. There is still the towelling down the face and the serving arm, the wiping of the brow, the tucking of the hair behind the ears, the wiping of the sweat from the nose and the rearranging of the budgie smugglers (back and front), but now there is no tugging at the sleeves before the serve or the return. It must save him, oh, nanoseconds.
There is another school of thought, however. Rafa does not like getting old. He made it very clear at the US Open.
“I always wanted to be young,” he said then. “Even when I was eight years old, I was not very happy to when I was, my birthday, to be nine. Still the same. I am 31, and I am not happy when my birthday going to be 32. I am happy being young. I don't want to get older. For the moment, I didn't find the way to stop that watch.”
If he cannot turn back that particular watch (and with his sponsored Richard Mille timepiece being worth around €635,000 or the best part of AUD $1million, he is probably not allowed to tamper with its workings), he can at least turn back his fashion clock by a good decade and make himself feel like a 21-year-old again.
But young or old, Rafa basically never changes. No matter the opponent, the tournament or the surface, his tactic is always the same: to play the best he can. The minor nuances of play he can tinker with as he goes along but if he can play his best, he knows he has a chance to win.
By the time he was bundling Mayer towards the exit, he was looking much tidier. Only 10 unforced errors over three sets was not a bad result (neither was 40 clean winners) and even if he did drop serve when he was trying to close out the match, he soon made amends in the tiebreak and after two hours and 38 minutes, he was off to prepare for Friday’s encounter with Damir Dzumhur.
