681 days since he lifted the 2022 Roland Garros trophy, Rafael Nadal returned to skilled clay-court tennis on the courtroom that adorns his identify, marking his comeback with a win over the Sixty fifth-ranked Flavio Cobolli within the first spherical of the ATP 500 occasion in Barcelona on Tuesday. In entrance of a raucous house crowd on Pista Rafa Nadal, he took aside Cobolli 6-2, 6-3 regardless of displaying evident indicators of rustiness and being removed from his traditional greatest on his favoured floor.
The Spaniard has been absent from the tour for a lot of the final two seasons, ever since he suffered a hip-flexor damage on the 2023 Australian Open. Nadal introduced that 2024 is more likely to be his remaining season, however after making his comeback in Brisbane in January, damage issues have compelled him to tug out of 4 extra tournaments this yr, together with the Australian Open.
However one remaining shot on the French Open — the place Nadal is a document 14-time champion – would be the major motivation for the 37-year-old, making the clay-court tournaments he can play earlier than the Main kicks off within the final week of Might, essential to his preparations. Presently, he’s caught in a dilemma between needing matches and momentum to be aggressive, whereas concurrently hoping to not irritate his injury-struck physique.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion needed to pull out of the Masters 1000 occasion in Monte Carlo final week, claiming he’s not but absolutely able to compete, failing to serve at full pelt as a consequence of obvious belly discomfort.
Placing on present on Pista Rafael Nadal 🤩@RafaelNadal | @bcnopenbs | #BCNOpenBS pic.twitter.com/ITRVQP2eTZ
— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 16, 2024
Regardless of hindrances in his service movement and lateral motion, and rustiness in his split-second decision-making, Nadal had greater than sufficient within the tank to make Cobolli undergo, particularly when he was capable of arrest management of the rallies along with his big, high-bouncing forehand in trademark style.
Gradual begin
After beginning slowly, Nadal would amp up the strain on Cobolli’s serve with deep second-serve returns and loads of aggression from the baseline, finally breaking twice to take the primary set comfortably. The beginning of the second represented the Spaniard’s greatest interval of the match, impressively holding serve by saving a break level and instantly making his opponent undergo by fashioning two break factors via a trademark Nadal level – full with a thunderous forehand down-the-line winner and his fist-pumping celebration – and changing the second.
The rust, nevertheless, emerged instantly after, Nadal shedding his serve with an uncharacteristic double fault. However simply as he had performed all through the competition, Cobolli did not be a resilient presence thereafter. Nadal would break again instantly to take the benefit once more, go on to assemble just a few spectacular, high-tempo, high-quality factors, after which spherical out the win.
The gratitude to be again and aggressive had been evident after the win. “Each time it’s harder and particularly when you’re at a sophisticated age, it makes issues even harder,” Nadal was quoted as saying by the ATP Tour after the match.
“I’m going via robust moments however on the similar time, once I’m capable of be on Tour for just a few days and practise with the blokes after which be capable of compete a bit of bit, it means quite a bit to me. Nonetheless satisfying sufficient to maintain going. I’m blissful to start out with a victory indubitably.”
Whereas a cushty win on his return to clay will undoubtedly be a optimistic, the character of the match — Cobolli made a flurry of unforced errors — will make it tough for Nadal to evaluate his personal stage, maybe explaining his muted celebrations. The upcoming second-round encounter towards the fourth-seeded Alex de Minaur is more likely to assist in that regard.