“Everyday is a challenge”- Rafael Nadal digs deep to see off Ricardas Berankis, advances to the third round
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Rafael Nadal
Again, it wasn’t flawless, but Rafael Nadal defeated Ricardas Berankis with a score of 6-4 6-4 4-6 6-3 to advance to the third round of the Wimbledon. With a performance eerily reminiscent of Rafael Nadal, the Spaniard effectively won the opening set without putting forth any noteworthy effort.
Given that Berankis was able to generate a break opportunity first, one might even contend that he was the superior player. Nevertheless, he performed poorly and dropped the set at 5-4. It works against Nadal in that way. However, Berankis played better to start the second set.
Rafael Nadal came back from a set down to win the match
Similar to how he performed against Francisco Cerundolo, Nadal was a little underwhelming, and Ricardas was able to grab a 3-1 lead. Later, Nadal regained his mojo and went 3-0 to take the lead (4-3). He continued on to win the second set 6-4. Berankis was unable to continue his aggressive baseline play. In the third set, he maintained his performance.
Early on, Nadal’s sloppy play allowed the Lithuanian to take a 2-0 lead. Later on, he came close to giving the Spaniard a double break advantage, but he was able to hang on. The fourth set began after the Lithuanian won 6-4 because Rafael Nadal was unable to exert any pressure on the return. Berankis made a terrible start to the fourth. The play was halted owing to rain after Nadal quickly went out to an early 3-0 lead. A little over an hour later, it proceeded with Nadal holding serve and winning 6-3. A victory, but a shaky one.
“Well, every day is a challenge, that’s the truth,” Nadal said in his on-court interview. “All the opponents are difficult, we are playing against the best players in the world, and especially in these conditions, a little bit more. I didn’t play much on grass in the last three years, so every day is an opportunity to improve and today I am through, so that has given me the chance to keep going, so I’m happy for that.”
“I need to improve, but I think that the fourth set was much better, I think there was a good level of tennis in that fourth set. I served much better at the end of the match and I was able to play a little bit more aggressively with the forehand. At the beginning, there were too many mistakes. But, as a process, it’s important for me to accept that things are not perfect and keep working, being humble and accept the challenge and just think positive things all the time, even when things are not going the best way possible,” he went on to add.
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Pritha Ghosh
(414 Articles Published)