TENNIS | Nadal stars in a convincing debut against Delbonis

Rafa Nadal, spring and earth. His territory. That, coupled with the framework of Monte-Carlo Country Club where he has been champion eleven times, and a looseness in the legs that did not show the lack of rhythm of 56 days without playing, they gave as a mixture a 6-1 and 6-2 in 1h: 20 against Federico Delbonis on his debut at the Monegasque 1,000 Masters. Tomorrow Thursday (around 15:00, #Come on) Grigor Dimitrov awaits you (13-1 in the face to face for the Spanish), who defeated Jeremy Chardy 7-6 (3) and 6-4.

Before going out to a track without an audience, with the Mediterranean in the background, Nadal had warned that he did not feel fear but “respect” before a poisoned debut because I had never reached Monte Carlo with so few matches (5) after back problems that made him stop after falling in the quarter-finals in Australia, his only previous tournament, against Stefanos Tsitsipas. And soon lost respect. Delbonis (30 years old and 87th in the world), coming from the previous one, could not put up much resistance either, touched on his right knee.

Toni Nadal, technical advisor now of the already eliminated Felix Auger-Aliassime, could see from the stands how his nephew connected the ball well, how the drive accelerated and how it moved from side to side without a problem with spark in the legs. His seal. An ideal debut to get the pulse of the competition again in which he gave up a break and took advantage of five of the 11 break balls at his disposal. Had the game been more successful, it would have been fleeting. A first step towards the 12th title, with the permission of a Novak Djokovic who struck down the exciting Jannik Sinner 6-4 and 6-2. And towards the recovery of number two, which he will achieve if he reaches the final. Daniil Medvedev, infected by COVID-19, is not on the road.