• Chronicle Nadal has a hard time against Cerúndolo on his return to grass after three years

  • Kyrgios spat at a fan "Luckily there is a fence that prevents me from doing anything to them"

  • Paula Badosa sweeps her debut "It's never easy being a favorite"

  • Cornet reveals a covid outbreak at Roland Garros "Many people had it and nobody said anything"

There is no truce at Wimbledon.

Novak Djokovic

knew it

, the champion of the last three editions, who, like last year, dropped a set in his debut, this time against the Korean

Soon-Woo Kwon

.

Carlos Alcaraz

was able to confirm

this, led to the five partials by the German

Jan-Lennart Struff

.

Rafael Nadal

suffered this Tuesday

, on his return to the tournament after three years, forced to spend more than a bad time against the Argentine

Francisco Cerúndolo

, whom he ended up winning 6-4, 6-3, 3-6 and 6- 4, after three hours and 33 minutes.

The grass is another story and the tail blows that the pandemic still gives raise the degree of unpredictability.

Matteo Berrettini

, a finalist in 2021, a recent winner at Stuttgart and Queen's, couldn't even make his debut after testing positive for covid.

The Italian, perhaps the second real favorite after Djokovic, based on his status as a true specialist on the surface, circulated in the lower part of the draw, the same one where Nadal travels, and was called to face him in some hypothetical semifinals.

Cilic

said goodbye on Monday

, also due to covid, also on that side of the key.

Another who fell by the wayside was

Felix Auger-Aliassime

, sixth favorite and destined to face the Spanish in some presumed quarters.

The young Canadian player, who demanded Nadal the five quarter sets at Roland Garros, could not contain the gale of

Maxime Cressy

, a giant of 1.98 who spends like few others in this type of scenario.

Nadal had last set foot on the All England Club Central in the 2019 semifinals. He lost to

Roger Federer

, who two days later was unable to take advantage of match points against Djokovic that would have given him his ninth title and twenty-first Grand Slam.

Hit by injuries, the Swiss is still on the couch after that missed opportunity, awaiting his announced return for next October.

It might have been thought, as events unfolded later, that Nadal would not return to Wimbledon.

He crossed the pandemic, with the consequent suspension of the tournament in 2020, and the foot injury prevented him from participating last year.

Just a few weeks ago, he still had not confirmed his presence, again with chronic pain in tow.

"I raised my level"

This Tuesday, with only the two exhibition matches played in Hurlingham against

Stan Wawrinka

and Auger-Aliassime, Nadal noted the lack of expertise in a territory as specific as grass.

Cerúndolo, 23 years old, 42nd thanks to his taking off in the first part of the season, did not belong, far from it, to the stereotype of a player who can cause problems on this surface.

In fact, he had only won one match over her, most recently in the first round at Queen's.

The truth is that when he seemed to start heading for the locker room, two sets down and with a service disadvantage at the beginning of the third, he starred in a reaction that was not far from prolonging the dispute until a fifth set, after having four balls to make it 4-1 in the fourth.

“The positive is that I ended up playing well.

The last two games I raised my level, without a doubt.

That gave me the opportunity to win," Nadal said at a press conference, before referring to the conditions in which the match was played.

"When it's windy and cold, the ball is very heavy.

When it's sunny, conditions are a little drier, the ball comes out faster, spends less time between the strings.

Today, it was a heavy ball.

It was very windy and it was not easy to play

».

Too conservative at times, he also made 41 unforced errors.

"He played at a high level for quite some time.

He didn't miss, he served well, hitting big forehands and especially big backhands », he said about his opponent.

Champion at the Australian Open and Roland Garros, Nadal thus chains his fifteenth consecutive victory in a Grand Slam tournament, where he has not lost since the semifinals in Paris last year, against Djokovic.

Waiting for him on Thursday is Lithuanian

Ricardas Berankis

, whom he outclassed in straight sets earlier in the year, on his way to the ATP 250 title in Melbourne, his first title of the year.

About Covid

Nadal came to value the words of the tennis player

Alize Cornet

, who commented that at Roland Garros there was an outbreak of Covid and no tests were done.

“It is always easy to create conflict, but to do so we have to be sure that there is.

I don't recall any cases.

If anyone tested positive, I don't know.

I do not have the complete information to form a clear opinion.

On Berrettini's discharge, he commented: "If you have symptoms, it's up to you to get tested or not.

If you do it and you test positive, you're out."

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