Rafael Nadal defeated the Austrian Dominic Thiem without trembling in two sets of 7-5 and 6-1 on Tuesday in the first round of the ATP 250 tournament in Brisbane, Australia. It was his first official singles match in almost a year.
The Spaniard had not played singles since his defeat in the second round of the Australian Open on January 18, 2023. With a hip injury, he fell to 672nd place in the ATP world rankings.
On Tuesday, it took him 1h29 to eliminate Dominic Thiem, 30, former world number three, now 98th in the ATP after having to treat a wrist injury.
“It’s an emotional and important day for me after probably one of the most difficult years of my career,” Nadal reacted after his victory.
Nadal won the first set after an hour of effort. First in training, Nadal raised his level of play to win the set on the fourth break point in the twelfth game.
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Rafael Nadal found his feet in his first match.
Photo : Getty Images / Bradley Kanaris
The second round was much more expeditious, concluded by the Spaniard in 29 minutes against an opponent committing too many unforced errors.
Coming out of the packed court, Nadal judged his level to be positive.
I was nervous, because I’m at the end of rehabilitation, and I wanted to know what level I could play at, he admitted. It could have been disastrous and that worried me.
I wasn’t too bad in the shots I chose, he said, which is not obvious after such a long absence. I’m happy and quite proud of myself.
It was the 1069th of his professional career, which allows him to overtake Ivan Lendl in terms of victories and move into fourth place in history, after Jimmy Connors (1274), Roger Federer (1251) and Novak Djokovic (1076).
Dominic Thiem hit the headlines at the start of the tournament when his qualifying match was interrupted… by a venomous snake.
2024-01-02 12:35:53
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