By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, May 27, 2019
Room to roam makes Court Philippe Chatrier a red-clay comfort zone for Rafael Nadal.
Launching his 15th consecutive Roland Garros today, the king of clay was crowned by low-hanging television camera as he walked onto the refurbished Court Chatrier today.
Word Play: Best RG Quotes of Day 1
Shaking off that bumpy start, a sharp Nadal shrunk open space streaking past German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 into the Roland Garros second round.
It was largely a picture-perfect start for Nadal, who denied all four break points he faced in the first game and was never really threatened again. Nadal stamped five love holds in a clean one hour, 57-minute victory.
"It was a first round, and I did a lot of things well," Nadal said afterward. "Not many mistakes. Being very solid all the time. Just of course is the beginning and the first round is more about talking about what I have to do better.
"What I did very well today is just about general feeling, and general feeling have been positive this afternoon. Happy to be through to the second round, and that's the main thing today and with straight sets, positive feelings. Just happy for that."
The 11-time champion raised his Roland Garros record to 87-2, improving to a mind-blowing 112-2 in best-of-five-set matches contested on clay. Nadal has won 50 of his last 51 sets at Roland Garros as he aims to become the first man to win the same major 12 times.
On a day in which three of the top four seeds were in action—world No. 1 Novak Djokovic followed Nadal on Chatrier with fourth-seeded Dominic Thiem scheduled for later today—the man in the canary-colored Nike top commanded his favorite court. Nadal, who celebrates his 33rd birthday next Monday, moved with purpose and struck with vigor.
In his Roland Garros main-draw debut, the 27-year-old Hanfmann had the honor of trying to topple the most prolific champion in tournament history—a task as daunting as swiping the world right off Atlas' shoulders.
Swinging with aggression to try to shorten points, the former USC Trojan showed the right tactics against the clay-court warrior, but could not match Nadal's precision committing 34 unforced errors, which doubled the defending champion's output.
"I mean, it's super heavy," Hanfmann said of Nadal's twisting topspin forehand. "The ball jumps up so quickly. And, you know, I tried to step in on my backhand and take it early. And, you know, what all these good players try to do against him to do well is try to neutralize that stroke, but it's quite hard."
Hanfmann and Nadal shook hands after the pre-match photo-op then the 6'4" German qualifier took his cracks earning four break points in the opening game.
Taking a backhand return on the rise, Hanfmann blocked a backhand return down the line for a fourth break point. Nadal calmed the turbulence holding through a lengthy opener. Nadal was swinging freely pummeling a series of forehands to break in the second game when Hanfmann scattered a forehand.
The lanky German played big and bold extending the champion through the opening two games but had nothing to show for it after 15 minutes of work.
One of 11 German men in the draw—most in 11 years—Hanfmann showed solid all-court skills sliding a backhand volley down the line to help him hold in the fourth game.
Returning serve from his familiar spot near the Lacoste crocodile sponsor signage in front of the back wall, Nadal was spinning high, heavy returns as the set progressed.
The second-seeded Spaniard raced through eight of the last nine points snatching his second break and a one-set lead.
At times, Hanfmann lined up well wide serving to the ad side—a tactic the young Andre Agassi used in Paris years ago—to try to drag Nadal wide. The 184th-ranked Hanfmann knew he had to play big and bold to apply any pressure on the Rome champion, but Nadal continued to stretch the German side-to-side drawing errors in bunches to start the second set. Nadal raced through 12 of the first 14 points.
Curling crosscourt forehands that bounded shoulder high, Nadal banged out his fourth break of the day for 5-1. Hanfmann tried to hug the baseline to deny the Spaniard reaction time, but Nadal was turning his hips and shoulders into his drives.
When Hanfmann pushed a dropper into net, Nadal seized a two-set lead after 71 minutes of menacing baseline play. Nadal won 16 of 19 service points in the second set.
The Rome champion broke in the third game of the third set. Nadal played over Hanfmann's head with a creative rainbow lob to earn match point and closed for his sixth straight victory.
After succumbing to Fabio Fognini in Monte-Carlo, Dominic Thiem in Barcelona and Stefanos Tsitsipas in Madrid, Nadal played some of his most proactive tennis winning his eighth Rome title and aims to peak in Paris.
"You're playing against the best players in the world, and you lose," Nadal said. "All I want is to fight and compete. And in Roland Garros, it's the same. This time it was the ball fell on my side. But you can't hope to have always the same results. I managed to win in Rome. Now I'm fighting for this title, which is very important.
"But, okay, well, what happened, happened, and everyone has their own analysis of things and their own feelings. I have my own analysis of what happened, and this tournament is very important for me. It's probably the most special and the most important in my tennis career, and I'm here to try and enjoy it and compete in the best way possible."
An ideal start could get even better. Next up for Nadal is another German qualifier, Yannik Maden.