Eleven short days after Rafael Nadal limped out of the Italian Open with a bitter flare-up of his chronic foot injury, he was a picture of comfort on Monday afternoon as he returned to the tournament of his life with a calm opening victory. Nadal moved into the second round without incident, defeating the Australian player Jordan Thompson 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.
“[It] is a good start, of course, straight sets. That’s it. I mean, I played good for a while. Then things that I could do better and I need to do better. But is a positive start, and that gives me a chance to have one more day on practice tomorrow and then another chance after tomorrow.”
As he chases his 14th French Open title, the coming encounters for Nadal will carry some unusual urgency as he continues to attempt to rebuild his form after his fractured rib in March and the foot issues that further hurt his preparation for Paris. This is the first time that Nadal has contested the French Open without reaching a prior clay court Masters 1,000 final.
“How is my level of confidence, how would things be if I didn’t get injured? I don’t know,” he said. “We never know. So I’m not a big fan of thinking about the things that could happen if – ‘if’ is a dangerous word.
“[This] is the moment to accept the moment, to accept the situation, and to have the confidence to put all my effort in every single day, to get better and better. Let’s see how far I can keep going.”
Nadal will next face the French wildcard Corentin Moutet, who defeated Stan Wawrinka 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 as the Swiss continues his comeback from injury.
Cameron Norrie took a positive first step into his French Open campaign by defeating the local wildcard Manuel Guinard 7-5, 6-2, 6-0 to reach the second round. The contest started as an attritional battle, with Norrie far from his top level as he lost an early break but in damp, heavy conditions he was consistent enough to see out an exhausting 72-minute set.
With the opening set under his belt, however, Norrie relaxed and as he played freely until the end the difference in quality between himself and the 26-year-old ranked 146th became clear. Norrie, the 10th seed in Paris, won his fourth ATP title in Lyon on Saturday and he had only one day to both rest and adjust to the Paris conditions. After a day of rest, he will next face Australia’s Jason Kubler.
Dan Evans, the 29th seed, followed Norrie into the second round with a solid 7-6 (7-3) 6-4, 6-4 victory against Francisco Cerúndolo. In the evening session, defending champion Novak Djokovic eased through with a 6-3, 6-1, 6-0 win over Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.
