It was already great news that Rafa Nadal had made the decision to compete this week in Acapulco, but seeing him play again at a great level makes this good news a fantastic event for tennis. The Balearic won without difficulties (6-3 and 6-2 in 76 minutes) to the American Denis Kudla (29 years old and 100th in the world), picked up from the previous one by the resignation of his compatriot Reilly Opelka, who would have been a more complicated rival due to his powerful service. “A very positive match. I started playing well, it is a victory in two sets, which is always good for confidence and to continue. A solid performance for a first day. Of course, there are a couple of things I can do better, but I can’t complain at all,” he said on the tournament’s new 10,000-capacity center court.
This is how Nadal, at the age of 35, equaled the best start to the season of his career in terms of victories: an 11-0 like the one he showed in 2014. Although in this case it is even better, because that course he won in Doha and his streak ended in the final of the Australian Open that he lost to Stan Wawrinka, and this time his triumphs have led him to be champion at the ATP 250 in Melbourne and in the Grand Slam that was played later in the same city. In addition, the sequence is open and could improve if he wins this Wednesday, early Thursday in Spain, another lucky loser also American, although born in Macedonia, Stefan Kozlov (24 years old and 130th). Curiously, the boy had to hang Nadal, with whom he was training, to play against Grigor Dimitrov, whom he won on Monday by surprise.
Nadal served very well. In fact, in the first set he only lost two points on his serve and won three love games, despite the fact that he did not reach 60% success with firsts. In the second he yielded another two in the initial turn with 78%. That’s as far as the resistance of good Denis. The Spaniard had more problems adjusting some remains, but little by little he found a way to unsettle an opponent he had never faced before. He broke through to lead 3-1 and maintain the advantage in hot (28 degrees) and humid (77%) conditions that made him take actionlike bandaging both wrists to try not to get his wristbands soaked and thus prevent sweat from flooding his hands.
From less to more
Aggressive at times (26 winners), conservative when he played (six unforced errors) and fresh legs, Rafa took over the game. In the second round he caught the break before, for 2-1 after suffering slightly to make it 1-1, and everything was already very placid for him. He added another later and sentenced with his serve (eight aces), unassailable for Kudla. Good feelings at the premiere of a tournament in which he was three times champion, the first at the age of 18 at the dawn of his gigantic career, which blooms again 17 later.