Rampaging Rafa reaches second round

Rafael Nadal was at his brutal best in a first-round win over John Millman on Monday during which he dropped just six games.

Nadal brushed aside the world No.137 6-1 6-3 6-2 in one hour, 46 minutes to take his place in the second round, where he will meet Donald Young.

Young advanced over an injured Denis Istomin.

Wimbledon hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for Nadal in the last few years. Since reaching the final in 2011, the Spaniard has failed to advance beyond the fourth round in four subsequent visits.

Each of those four losses – in 2012 to Lukas Rosol, in 2013 to Steve Darcis, in 2014 to Nick Kyrgios and in 2015 to Dustin Brown – came against players with triple-digit rankings.

Yet against Millman, ranked 137th, Nadal ensured that would not happen for a fifth time – despite not having played an officially-sanctioned grasscourt match leading into Wimbledon.

“I always expect to go on court and compete well, try my best. Things sometimes goes better, and things sometimes goes worst,” he said.

“But, no, was a very positive match for me, a good start. That’s doesn’t mean a lot. The only thing that means was today was a very positive start. I am through to the second round. That’s a very important thing for me.

“And I happy because I didn’t win a lot of matches last couple of years here in Wimbledon. Today I win one, and I am looking forward to play the second one.”

Nadal is a different player to the one of the past few seasons who struggled with physical health and tentativeness and uncertainty in his game.

He’s rediscovered the mental strength and sting in his shots that have delivered him 15 Grand Slam titles – most recently at Roland Garros, where he won a magical 10th title in Paris just a few weeks ago.

After a stellar season also featuring a trip to the Australian Open final, Nadal currently sits atop the ATP Race to London.

Despite the drastic change of surface from clay to grass, Nadal on Monday still slugged his forehand, moved athletically and displayed an almost absurdly high intensity from the very first point.

However, he simply plied his trade closer to the baseline than in Paris and looked to move into the net to finish points at every opportunity.

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Millman, fit and gritty, was nonetheless no match for the force that overwhelmed him from the other end of the court.

“He’s a class act, he’s a champion and, yeah, he abused me out there,” Millman said.

“I absolutely can’t imagine playing him on clay. I reckon if the French Open was tomorrow and I drew him first round after playing him just then, I’d be probably a be a little bit intimidated.”

Nadal teed off on his forehand in the final game, clubbing three successive winners to end the contest with a flourish.

“I was hitting well. I think I had good feelings with the ball during the whole week of practice,” Nadal said.

“Is obvious at the beginning I started trying to not have a lot of mistakes, playing more safe. I finished the match hitting some great forehands, no?

“That’s the way. I need to play aggressive with my forehand. Obviously I need to serve well. That’s the only way that I can have chances to have good result here.”