Rafael Nadal survived a tough first-round match at Wimbledon and his draw has opened up, too, with Ricardas Berankis being next for the Spaniard on Thursday. Second-round action also continues with a showdown between Maxime Cressy and Jack Sock.
Ricardas Berankis vs. (2) Rafael Nadal
A whole host of dangerous grass-court players have already exited the bottom half of the Wimbledon draw. Matteo Berrettini and Marin Cilic are out because of positive Covid-19 tests and Felix Auger-Aliassime lost to Maxime Cressy on Tuesday. Sam Querrey, who has enjoyed plenty of success at the All-England Club over the years, also bowed out in round one. Querrey would have been Nadal’s second-round opponent on Thursday, but instead it will be Berankis. This will mark the second-ever encounter and second of the season between the Spaniard and Lithuanian, as Nadal cruised 6-2, 7-5 at a 250 event in Melbourne to begin the 2022 campaign.
Playing his first match on grass since 2019, the reigning Australian Open and French Open champion struggled briefly on Tuesday. He squandered some of a big lead (two sets and a break) over Francisco Cerundolo, eventually trailing by a break in the fourth, but recovered to win 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Berankis erased Querrey 6-4, 7-5, 6-3. That is a good result for the world No. 106, but it was first main-tour victory since Dubai and he is just 4-8 lifetime in the Wimbledon main draw with no third-round appearances. The chips are stacked heavily against Berankis, plus Nadal can be expected to improve dramatically now that he has a match under his belt.
Pick: Nadal in 3
Maxime Cressy vs. (Q) Jack Sock
The eye test has always suggested that Cressy would be an outstanding grass-court player, and now the results are coming. In 2021, the UCLA product reached his first ATP quarterfinal at the 250 tournament in Newport. Although he lost right away in Stuttgart earlier this summer, Cressy successfully qualified in Halle and then made a run to the Eastbourne final (lost to Taylor Fritz in a third-set tiebreaker). The latter result confirmed that the 45th-ranked American would be one of the most dangerous floaters at the All-England Club and Auger-Aliassime was on the receiving end of a bad draw—and on the losing end of Tuesday’s 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(9), 7-6(5) result.
Up next for Cressy is a first-ever meeting with Sock, who beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles 7-6(6), 6-4, 6-4 in round one. It has already been a very successful stay in London for Sock, who had to qualify just to get into the main draw. The world No. 103 is now 8-2 on grass in 2022, with semifinal and runner-up performances at a pair of Challengers. However, his two losses (7-5, 6-3 to a struggling Dan Evans and in a third-set tiebreaker to Zizou Bergs) are not encouraging and he had not won a main-tour match since Indian Wells prior to defeating Zapata Miralles. Count on Cressy using his serve-and-volley tactics to frustrate Sock most of the way in a relatively competitive contest.
Pick: Cressy in 4
These r one of Rafa”s matches that I like to switch off of!
Rafa’s bh cross court is getting him out of trouble.
If Berankis had any sense he would hit to rafa’s fh which is the shot which disintegrates when he is off mentally.
How long is this rain delay going on for? Are they putting in some new grass?!
I stopped watching after Rafa lost the third set again. I checked the score and saw that he was up 3-0 when they had to stop for the rain.
I hope Rafa can just close this out now.
Rafa was finally playing like Rafa when they stopped play.
I really hope he doesn’t come out nervous again.
They stopped just as he was getting his game together…
Rafa has a case of the third set blues. He just needs to hold here and close this out.
Rafa got it done. He played much better in the last few games of the fourth set. Still a work in progress.
Well done Rafa!
He played a lot better in the fourth set.
Nadal level first 2 rounds us very patchy..both rounds he played best last set n poor first 3..not sure what to make of this..
What concerns me most are 2 things..no Moya, Moya is what rafa needs to win.. this riog is no good to be honest..secondly I’m seeing pics of a tape on rafas abdomen today ..what is it about..though he served well but the fh is too patchy
If there was an injury that wouldn’t explain why he has played his best tennis in the last set.
I tend to think it is nerves because when he is nervous he has no control on his fh. That was true today until the 4th set. His bh cross court saved him before.
Darren Ramey thought the ab kinesio was due to a bit of “discomfort”. He said it was normal to feel some discomfort there when trying to serve bigger. Let’s just hope Rafa doesn’t crack another rib! Darren didn’t think it was a serious issue, but of course he doesn’t actually know.
Darren was commentator for Rafa’s match today. He’s a HUGE improvement over JMac. Sensible man and he loves Rafa. Coached Halep by getting her to be more like Rafa. 🙂
Thanks Ramara! Your autocorrect changed Darren Cahill to Darren Ramey!
Cahill is a really insightful commentator.
Maybe the tape is partly as protection against the possibility of rib injury!? I hadn’t thought of that…
Pics of the tape.
https://mobile.twitter.com/nadalnews/status/1542586063885144066
BTW rafa is looking way younger than he was at ao. At ao he looked his age, both at French n wimby ,he looking much younger
Rafa is really taking a joke too far U know! How does he feel he could just strip like this on centre court for the whole world to c?!🤣🤣🤪 and he is in no hurry to put his shirt back on. Just wait…..I’m surprised no one has complained about Rafa”s post match strip ritual yet!!!! I’m sure ppl may have mentioned it but not many will complain when it”s a body like Rafa”s! Teehee!!!
Swiatek had a scare today against a lucky loser…!
Then the lucky loser would turn out to be the lucky winner!
She has thought competition ahead! Let’s c how she navigates through the draw? When was the last time she lost a match? 😀
Anyone worried about sonego ?
It’s Rafa I am worried about! He has to raise his game to its normal levels..He can’t keep playing rubbish for 3 sets.
It will only get tougher from here on out. Berankis was supposed to be a gimme match. But Rafa is way off his game.
Rafa has to find his game if he wants to go deep here.
I heard Darren Cahill talking about the kinesio tape on Rafa’s abdomen. He said that Rafa did not play for three weeks and you can strain the abs reaching when you serve. But he doesn’t know exactly what is going on. He was just giving his supposition.
Honestly, I am worried about everyone. Sonego is ranked No. 27. Berankis was outside the top 100, I believe. He is supposed to be good on grass. Darren Cahill talked about his game.
I also wanted to second Ramara’s comments about Cahill. He was a breath of fresh air after listening to JMac. Or putting it on mute most of the time! I was grateful for Cahill’s commmentary. At least he can leave his ego at the door. It’s all about tennis with him.
Rafa played as much as he needed to. At least he won in 4, no biggie. In the beginning we were all saying he hadn’t played on grass in 3 years and now when he drops a set we lose it 🤣🤣🤣
However , I feel Rafa has two main issues: first he has to work his way to form like he does in all majors, and even with the depleted field his path is still a bit tricky. Second, Rafa is really the man to beat as he has won both majors this year, so he is no fly by night player! This man can play!!! #22 GSs!!! As much as I want Rafa to win, he has to deal with all those physical and emotional issues and so I’ll give him a pass. I’ll just take it one match at a time and hope he comes out victorious at least for a spot in the final 😄
By the by, any thoughts on Alcaraz?
Is Alcaraz flying under the radar a bit? Haven’t seen much about him lately.
Rafa didn’t play well in his R2 match because he’s playing a more defensive game on grass (like as if he’s playing on clay). He couldn’t find his range on both his FH and BH – FH overhit, BH hit into the net!
His serve, what to say about it, it’s both reliable and unreliable! Unreliable when he couldn’t win many free points on it, but when he needed it, it bailed him out of troubles.
The conditions out there wasn’t ideal – windy with rain impending. I guess that might be why Rafa seemed to be rushing through his service games because he didn’t want to play under the roof! He also played a more defensive game, not ideal but something he could rely on, against someone he knew could play well on grass.
He raised his level in the fourth set because he knew he had to, because if the match went to five sets, anything could happen (just like his match vs Djoko at the FO, where he tried his best not to go to a fifth set).
Berankis had the game to play well on grass, he’s aggressive and would move forward to the net when he had the chances( I remember him pushing Cilic to five sets at Wimbledon in 2015 when Cilic was ranked No.9 at that time).
Paul Annacone said on the tennis channel that Rafa seems to have trouble in the early matches on grass with being aggressive rather than defensive. It seems to me that the transition from clay to grass is getting more difficult for Rafa. Or else it’s the three years that he did not play on grass.
It is interesting that Rafa is capable of raising his level when the match may be on the line. He was down a break in the fourth set against Cerendolo. That is when he started playing more aggressive. He did the same thing against Berankis. It interesting that he wa able to break Berankis to close our high sets one and two. He had trouble at RG closing out sets.
Rafa was quite honest in his presser, as he always is. He said the beginning was not good but the fourth set he played better. I think he is frustrated with his struggles to get his game going on the grass. As Annaconrvpointed out, Rafa does not seem to have an aggressive mindset in the early matches on grass
To close out sets one and two