After endless days of discussion over a niggling back injury and his inability to compete in the week leading up to the Australian Open, Rafael Nadal finally returned to competition for the first time in three months on Tuesday. He easily defeated Serbia’s Laslo Djere 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 to move into the second round after testing his back for the first time.
Nadal had not competed since the ATP Finals, when he ended the 2020 season in a flurry of mixed emotions. Although he fell to Daniil Medvedev and Dominic Thiem then, both were narrow defeats. He departed for the off-season hopeful of further progress to come and he was pleased with his work. During one of his first practice sessions with Dominic Thiem in Adelaide, it was all undone by a stiff back.
His presence on Tuesday was a reassuring sight for many. After skipping the ATP Cup and not serving until a few days before he was due to compete, Nadal managed to do so at a high enough level to keep his opponent at bay. At no point did he look in discomfort and he won 83% of points on his first serve. He limited his exertion by moving close to the baseline and dictating points as soon as the opportunity arose.
Nadal said he has had to alter his service motion in order to manage the pain. “It’s difficult for people who don’t play tennis professionally to understand. But clearly the shot that is limited is my serve,” he said.
“In the other shots, I’m not limited. What happens is when you serve [with the injury], you have to be careful with every movement. So when the serve lands and you have to follow up the second ball, the recovery is slower.
“This has repercussions in the general game. It doesn’t allow you to play with the aggression or intensity that gives you the fact of playing without having to think. When you serve every time thinking of what to do so that you don’t worsen the situation, then clearly the whole game is affected.”
It makes sense. In the opening set, Nadal lost rhythm on his serve and fell from 5-1 to 5-3 (0-30). In the first two points of the 5-1 game, he struggled with his first shot after his serve, spraying two unforced errors in a row before his game unravelled.
At 5-3, he again started the game by failing to react quickly enough to Djere’s return. A better opponent would have punished him, but the world No 53 made two poor errors at 0-30 and the chance was gone.
Nadal is counting on his body improving, but he will be without the preparation of a warm-up tournament unlike his rivals. During an interview with Eurosport, he described himself as “an expert of living with these problems after so many years”.
The world No 2 has frequently played through pain or arrived with stinted preparation many times and he has frequently succeeded at the end. He will try to do so again.
“Tomorrow a day off. After tomorrow, another match,” he said. “I need to go day-to-day and just try to stay positive. Every day that I am trying to stay here longer is a day with a chance to get better finally, so that’s what I am trying. Trying to do all the things possible to be ready for compete, for what I came here.”
Some players forced into hard quarantine continued to struggle with simply competing again. The two‑times Australian Open champion and 12th seed Victoria Azarenka was the most significant casualty, struggling physically as she was defeated 7-5 6-4 by Jessica Pegula, the world No 61.
“Was I feeling prepared fully? No,” she said. “But also going into a grand slam, or a tournament, it’s like: ‘OK, I’ll have to do the best I can with what I have.’ That was my mentality. I felt that I’ve done that to the best of my ability.”
