TENNIS AO2015 – Like many times in his career Rafa Nadal is on the back of a long-term injury which has many people doubting if he’ll be able to fully recover his tennis. In the Australian Open third round he defeated Dudi Sela 6-1, 6-0, 7-5. Bruno Bergareche Sans
AO2015: Interviews, Results, Order of Play, Draws
Like many times in his career Rafa Nadal is on the back of a long-term injury which has many people doubting if he’ll be able to fully recover his tennis. His start to the season was anything but hopeful with that surprising first round defeat to Michael Berrer in Doha but today’s performance was an indication that the Mallorcan is well on his way back to full fitness.
Nadal has blown hot and could this year in Melbourne with an impressive first round win against the tricky Mikhail Youzhny but things almost came to a premature end in the second round against Tim Smyczek, where five long gruelling sets were needed for the third seed to prevail. And although he had managed a way to get pass the American, the performance suggested that Nadal’s stay could in Australia could be a matter of time.
But the thing about the Spaniard is that he can really play himself into tournaments and, with the help of a favourable draw so far (favourable in the sense of facing Dudi Sela in a Grand Slam third round), he’s had the chance to get rid of the rust. Against the Israeli today he displayed an exquisite all-round game. A good thermometer to gauge what kind of confidence the Mallorcan is playing with is his backhand. When things aren’t going well, it’s short, erratic and opponents pounce on it. Today it was deep and a real weapon, as was his serve, which helped him out of a tight spot at 3-3 where he faced two break points. Luck also played its part for the world number three when he struck a forehand into the net cord and the balled dropped in Sela’s court at 5-5 and 15-40 on Nadal’s serve.
After two devastating opening sets where Sela could only conjure up one game, the Israeli showed some glimpses of brilliance in the third with powerful strokes off both wings and deft touch at the net and almost took the encounter into a fourth set, but it was too little too late for the world number 109 as Nadal wrapped it up in just under two hours with a 6-1, 6-0, 7-5 scoreline to book a meeting with big serving Kevin Anderson in the fourth round.
