Nadal saves 14 break points in Wimbledon debut

The three-year break on grass left Nadal struggling to adapt to the pace of the match. He couldn't overwhelm his opponent ranked 41st at the ATP. The owner of 22 Grand Slams took three hours and 36 minutes to go on, going through many persistent games. He scored fewer winner points than his opponent, 23 vs. 30, and made 41 self-defeating errors. Nadal's second-serve winning percentage was only 43%, causing him to save 14 break points all match.

Nadal struggled at the start of the first set, losing the second game of serve with a total of five break points for Cerundolo. In the next game of serve, Nadal continued to let the juniors have four break-points, one of which came from a double serve error. Successful serves then helped Nadal save the entire face-to-face break-point. He got the better rhythm at the end of the set, winning four games in a row from the moment he was 2-4 down to defeat Cerundolo 6-4.

The Argentinian played well in the first half of each set, but made many mistakes at the end when standing in front of the hinge game. In the second set, Cerundolo lost the third game of serve, trailing 2-4 and missing the only break-point, leading to a 3-6 defeat. The third set was when Cerundolo played his best when pressed Nadal in doubles after the baseline. The tactic of sending the ball to two corners and then to the net to finish helped the 23-year-old twice win the game to save the ball, defeating Nadal 6-3.

In Set four, Nadal continued to have difficulty losing the second gaming game for nearly 10 minutes. The 36-year-old player faced the year Break-Point and only saved four times. Nadal then missed two break-point in the next game, led 4-2. Facing the opportunity to pull seniors into the year set but Cerundolo did not win the pressure in the last games. He lost four games immediately, including a serve game without scoring, and repeating 4-6 defeat as the script in Set One.

"Cerundolo played great and was an uncomfortable opponent," Nadal said in a quick interview after the match. "I am very grateful to the fans who have supported me after three years of not playing here. The pitch is not my familiar surface over the past time, for many different reasons. Every day in Wimbledon is a test harsh. This is a special tournament and I am happy to continue to have the opportunity to practice and compete in the next two days. "

Nadal's branch became gently after the two rivals, Marin Cilic and Matteo Berrettini, took turns to retreat because of Covid-19 infection. In the afternoon series of June 28, Felix Auger -anssime, who was likely to meet Nadal in the quarterfinals, was eliminated by Maxime Cressy after four sets. The other two seeds of this branch, Dan Evans and Holger Rune soon stopped.

Nadal will meet opponent No. 90 in the world Ricardas Berankis in the second round, and maybe the seed No. 27 Lorenzo Sonego in the third round. The biggest rival Nadal can be encountered in the fourth round is only Botic Van de Zandschulp, and the only seed he can meet in the quarterfinals is Taylor Fritz.