Rafael Nadal brushes aside opposition in Melbourne opener
Rafael Nadal had to apologise for his Mallorcan time-keeping but there was nothing sloppy about the Spaniard's tennis as he swept aside Florian Mayer to reach the Australian Open second round.
After defeating Mayer 6-3 6-4 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena, Nadal came into his press conference staring at his watch.
#Nadal comes to press, sits down, looks at his watch. "I wanted to see how late I am." 😎✌️ #15min #allgood #MallorcaTime #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/frccMTaz3x
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 17, 2017
"I was checking how late I am," he said. "I am always late. In Mallorca, there is a thing, only when we are going we say, 'I am coming'. It is tough to be 100 per cent on time on an island."
Time may be running out for the 30-year-old to claim his 15th grand slam title but Nadal is among the contenders here in the bottom half of the draw, where he is due to meet Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals and Novak Djokovic in the semis.
For now, however, he is recovering rhythm and confidence following another comeback from injury and he was a convincing victor against Mayer, the 33-year-old German ranked 49th in the world.
Nadal hit 39 winners in total and was never broken in the match, with his first serve finding its mark an impressive 70 per cent of the time. He will now face another veteran in Cyprus' Marcos Baghdatis.
"I think I played solid match, no?" Nadal said. "I am happy the way I am playing.
"I had good weeks of practice. It is never easy the first round, always little bit more nerves at the beginning. I didn't play against an easy opponent.
"The way that he plays is not a conventional game. He changes a lot of the rhythm of the point, you know, changing with a slice, then he hit a winner, then he play little bit slower ball. It is not easy to read his game so I am just happy the way that I played."
Nadal ended last season early in a bid to overcome the wrist injury that hampered him for most of the year but after an encouraging week in Brisbane earlier this month, he has started well in Melbourne.
"It's about getting back to confidence. It's important," Nadal said. "When you are playing and playing and winning matches, the things become very automatic, no?
"You don't need to think much about the things that are happening or the way that you played points.
"But when you are out for a while, you need to recover all these automatic things that makes you play easier. That's the important thing."
Raonic remains on track for their last-eight clash after the Canadian cruised past German Dustin Brown 6-3 6-4 6-2.
Belgium's 11th seed David Goffin had to work harder for his progress as he trailed American Reilly Opelka 4-3 in the fifth set, before winning 6-4 4-6 6-2 4-6 6-4.
