In the ongoing saga of everyday injured tennis folks, we can be first with news: Rafael Nadal’s knees look all right.
As the great and the good assembled before the start of the Australian Open, there was barely a player present who did not have some medical issue to deal with. We have worried about Novak’s elbow, we have fretted over Stan’s left knee and, of course, some of us have lost sleep over Rafa’s famously fragile knees.
He was struggling badly at the end of last season, so badly in fact that he had to postpone the start to the new season to give himself a little bit more recovery time. How would those dodgy joints bear up on the hard courts of Melbourne Park?
Judging by his 94-minute, 6-1 6-1 6-1 win over Victor Estrella Burgos on Monday evening, they were holding up just fine.
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“2017 was a very long season – a good one, but every long,” Nadal said. “I was disappointed that I couldn’t make it in Brisbane, but I started late and I needed a little bit more time. I’m very happy to be here again.
“[In the off-season] I just work. I take a little bit of time off. After London I had to stop for a while and then I start working step by step. That’s why I was not able to come to Brisbane – I started a little bit slower than usual. We wanted to do things the right way to be ready for this season. And here we are.
“This year we are here. That’s all I can say. I love this sport. I love tennis. I love the competition. I know one day I won’t have the chance to play again in this court, so I want to enjoy every moment I am here. I don’t want to think about how many more times I can be here; I want to enjoy that I have the chance to be here.”
Actually, Estrella Burgos looked as if he was having a blast just being here, too, despite his absolute thrashing.
When he headed to the net for the shake of hands, it was as if he was greeting a member of the family, a favourite cousin he had not seen for a while. All smiles and hearty slaps on the back, the man from the Dominican Republic knew his place. He had tried, especially at the end of the second set, but he knew he could not make a scratch, much less a dent, in the world No.1’s defences. Cheerily striding off court, the 37-year-old world No.81 got an extended round of applause from his conqueror.
So, the knees are fine, the game looks in good fettle and all is well with the world. Does Nadal look like a Grand Slam champion, then? Well, bits of him do.
For the first time in a decade, Rafa is back in his favoured sleeveless shirt, the type of top he wore when he first bounced onto the tour as a fully-fledged champion and started mopping up the major titles to a band playing. Admittedly, there are no pirate pants to go with the muscle shirt, but a chap can only go so retro at the age of 31.
The last time he was flashing his biceps, it was the summer of 2008 and he was within touching distance of the world No.1 ranking. When he banked 800 ranking points at the Beijing Olympics and came home with the gold medal that August he was finally elevated to the position of best player on the planet.
To celebrate the achievement, his clothing sponsors thought it would be appropriate to put him a more grown-up shirt, one with sleeves and a collar. One a little more like Roger’s. And he has been suitably besleeved ever since. But now that he is back at the top of the pile and has collected 16 Grand Slam titles (10 of them at the French Open), Nike clearly think he can wear whatever he wants. Whether it was his choice to wear that particular shade of pink for his trousering remains to be seen. If he did, he must be in touch with his feminine side, particularly when the whole outfit is matched with dove grey and pink shoes but, overall, Raf looked like a bloke who meant business.
There was one brief (or brief-ish) moment when Estrella Burgos seemed to making some headway. The former champion was serving for the second set at 5-0, and then his pal from the Dominican Republic had the temerity for force a break point, or several. For 15 minutes, Nadal pushed and jostled to get over the line and claim that second set and for 15 minutes, Estrella Burgos stood firm. And then he broke the mighty Rafa.
The mighty Rafa’s response? He broke straight back and sprinted towards the second round and an appointment with Leonardo Mayer.
He won more than twice the number of points that Estrella Burgos could muster, he served well and accurately, and he kept his errors to a minimum. It was not Nadal at his very best, but he did not need to be that good. This was Nadal firing up the engines and revving them gently ahead of what he hopes is a two-week journey to the final.
“It’s a very important beginning for me,” Nadal said with a smile. “That’s a good start for me and that’s good news for me.”