World No.5 Rafael Nadal made a successful comeback to the ATP Tour as he won his first match at the VTR Open being played in Chile. This was Nadal's first match since his unceremonious exit at Wimbledon last year. Though he started the match on nervous note, he came back fiercely to beat Argentina's Federico Delbonis in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 to move in the quarterfinals.
We break down Nadal's performance in this match.
Nadal's decision to play at the outdoor clay in Vina del Mar in Chile was well accepted by everyone. Comfortable on clay throughout his career, the 7 time Roland Garros Champion made a really shaky start to the match after being broken in the very first game to trail 0-2 in the first set. But Nadal quickly fought back to level things up at 2 games all and then went on to win the set. What we saw was a very calm and composed Rafa even when he knew the World's eyes are on him. This cool approach towards his first match proved he was very confident about his abilities even when he wasn't playing his best tennis.
Also working for Rafa was his bold attitude. Once he got the break back in the opening set, there was no looking back for the Spaniard. With big forehands and exquisite draw shots, Nadal was playing some classic clay court tennis. Nadal backed himself while going for the kill and though he was a touch slow due to his knee, his ground strokes were finding the range he was looking for. After playing cautiously in the opening 5 games, Nadal kept raising the bar and kept applying pressure on the Argentine, who gave into the pressure created by Nadal.
All in all it was a great victory for Nadal as he played the way we are used to seeing from him - great counter punching abilities and pouncing on to the slightest opportunity that came his way. He was not shy of engaging himself in long rallies as he gradually broke his opponent down. It is safe to say that Nadal will take time to hit his prime and will need to play many more matches to get the groove required to challenge the best in the business again. But it is nice to see Nadal trying to play the tennis he always knew even after a seven month break.
Karen Samartha Walker is associated with the leading tennis website TennisEarth. Over the years, http://www.tennisearth.com has been proving instrumental in nurturing grass-root level tennis. TennisEarth has its unique Rating System for professional and amateur players with other revolutionary tennis development and promotion features and tools i.e. Live Tennis Commentary, Tennis Exchange Game and Tennis Learning Programs.
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