Rafael Nadal began his bid for a 12th French Open title with a 6-1 6-2 6-3 demolition of German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann.
The Spaniard, 32, is almost certainly the greatest clay-court player to have ever lived. However, he has had a tricky season so far by his exceptional standards.
Nadal won both the Monte Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open three times in a row between 2016 and 2018. This year, he was knocked out in the semi-finals of both events.
“I wasn’t ready for the first week (of the clay season) in Monte Carlo and I wasn’t ready in the first match in Barcelona,” the World No.2 said in his press conference. “(Fabio Fognini and Dominic Thiem) beat me because they were in better shape and had more trust in their game.”
Nadal spent a month away from the ATP tour after he pulled out of Indian Wells at the semi-final stage with a knee injury. This is probably the main reason for his rustiness in the first two weeks of the clay season.
Thankfully for his many fans, he is fit and firing again now, as Hanfmann discovered. Nadal dominated on serve throughout and was not broken at all.
He also attacked the German’s serve with characteristic relish and broke on six occasions. This produced the comfortable scoreline that will not surprise anyone.
Hanfmann analyses ‘unique’ Nadal
Although he was beaten heavily, Hanfmann displayed some powerful groundstrokes – particularly on his forehand side. And he said in his press conference that he enjoyed the experience of playing Nadal on the iconic Court Philippe Chatrier.
The German also described what it is like to face Nadal’s tennis. “He has such a unique game on clay,” he said. “His forehand is super heavy. The ball jumps up so quickly. I tried to step in on my backhand and take it early. What all these good players try to do against him is neutralize that stroke, but it’s quite hard.”
Hanfmann continued, “I tried to practise against some lefties and told them, ‘Okay, maybe you can try to be Rafa a little bit,’ but nobody can be like him.”
