Nadal destroys Wawrinka on return to grass ahead of Wimbledon

| by Kadir Macar

After three years away from the grass courts, Rafael Nadal will play Wimbledon in 2022 and therefore he started his preparation in Hurlingham.

At the Tennis Classic in the Hurlingham Club, the 22-time Grand Slam champion took on Stan Wawrinka in his first match as both players were looking to fine tune their form before the third Grand Slam of the season but it appeared that one is more ready than the other.

"I think he will be one of the favourites" - Toni Nadal on Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon
"I think he will be one of the favourites" - Toni Nadal on Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon

Historically, both Nadal and Wawrinka had the weakest performance out of the all Grand Slam tournaments in the All England Club. Moreover, after dozens of previous meetings, this was their first on grass and the Spaniard didn't lose to Wawrinka since 2015.

Rafael Nadal made sure that he won't end his streak in the Hurnlingham Club as he was the dominant player since the start of the match. He got a quick break and led 3-0 early in the match.

Later, world number 4 added another break and was serving for the set at 5-1. However, he got broken back and needed to break his Swiss opponent once more to win the first set 6-2.

In the second set, it was Wawrinka who had the first three breakpoints. Yet, he couldn't take advantage of that and quickly found himself down a break again. Despite breaking back, Nadal stepped up his game once more to win the match 6-2 and 6-3 in an hour. He will play one more match in the Hurlingham Club in two days.

"I don’t think he’s anywhere near 100% physically" - Hewitt on Nadal winning 14th Roland Garros
"I don’t think he’s anywhere near 100% physically" - Hewitt on Nadal winning 14th Roland Garros

Read the full article

Just in

Look at more articles