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 To all intents and purposes it was a normal day at the French Open
as Nadal claimed victory number 67 since making his debut in the
event in 2005.
It felt a little different though as the soon-to-be 29-year-old
walked on to Court Phillipe Chatrier, the rectangle of red clay that
has been the stage for his nine titles in a decade of unprecedented
domination.
Such has been Nadal's malaise this year, with claycourt defeats
piling up from Monte Carlo to Rome, the Spaniard arrived in Paris
only second favorite to claim a record-extending 10th title.
Tasked with providing the first test of Nadal's supposed fragile
confidence was French teenager Quentin Halys, a wildcard making his
grand slam debut.
He did just that, pushing 14-times grand slam champion Nadal hard
before succumbing 6-3 6-3 6-4.
Nadal often takes time to get fully into his stride at Roland Garros
so Tuesday's one hour 50 minute workout offered few clues over the
health of his game.
His racket was equipped with computer technology, meaning he can
download statistics for later analysis.
But the sixth seed knows he will have to reboot his game to win the
title, having been placed in the same half of the draw as world
number one Novak Djokovic and third seed Andy Murray.
Tournament favorite Djokovic, like Nadal, waited two days for his
opening match but quickly found his stride with a 6-2 7-5 6-2 defeat
of Finn Jarkko Nieminen.
The Serb, whose winning march now extends to 23 matches, came within
a point of a 5-1 deficit in the second set but extricated himself to
clinch victory with trademark precision.
Women's top seed Serena Williams joined the party, lighting up a
dull evening with a pink outfit and some powerful tennis to beat
Czech qualifier Andrea Hlavackova 6-2 6-3.
If Nadal was nervous, one can only imagine the thoughts going
through the mind of 18-year-old Halys.
He dropped his opening service game but was clearly not intimidated,
striking the ball with menace and occasionally having Nadal
scrambling behind the baseline.
Another service game went begging when the wildcard served three
double-faults but Halys broke Nadal's serve in the sixth game,
prompting loud cheers from a crowd who revere the champion but adore
a homegrown youngster taking it to one of the greats.
If the result was never in doubt, Nadal still looked relieved when
he secured victory on his first match point.
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BRASH AND FEARLESS
While professing himself pleased with his game after failing to win
a European claycourt event this year, Nadal sounded a little wistful
when commenting on a brash and fearless display from Halys, one of
seven teenagers in the draw.
"He risked on every single ball," said the Spaniard. "That's the way
tennis is going. Younger, aggressive, hitting the ball stronger and
quicker, going for the winners all the time.
"But when the point was played in normal conditions I think I played
well."
Nadal's compatriot David Ferrer, the seventh seed, bustled into the
second round with a 6-1 6-3 6-1 win over Slovak Lukas Lacko while
U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic hammered Dutchman Robin Haase 6-2 6-4
6-2.
Ferrer, runner-up in 2013, joins Nadal as the second active player
to win 300 claycourt matches.
"It's just a number," said the no-nonsense Spaniard.
Eugenie Bouchard became the highest seed to fall when the number
six, the golden girl of 2014 when she reached the Wimbledon final
after making the semis in Paris, slumped 6-4 6-4 to Kristina
Mladenovic of France.
Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov, the men's 10th seed and the prospective
fourth-round opponent for Nadal, fell at the first hurdle for a
second consecutive year, going down in three sets to American Jack
Sock.
Former women's champions Svetlana Kuznetsova (2009) and Francesca
Schiavone (2008) survived to fight another day after three-set
tussles.
(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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