Nadal, who says he is living the life of a hermit in SW19 thanks to the Covid outbreak that won a third player in the men’s draw, will now face Italian Lorenzo Sonego on Saturday. “It was not the best start, but it was probably the best finish,” Nadal said. “I have room to get better. “A few weeks ago I was close to retirement, but now I do not feel that way.” Speaking of Covid, he said he was taking extra precautions because: “This is the reality. I stay home, I do not go out anymore. “At some point you have to open up, but then there are more cases, this is part of the difficult world we are in.” A rain delay meant Nadal needed the best part of four hours to see a lively and fearless performance from Berankis. The narrative of the match was set in the first set where Nadal was clearly superior but could not consistently find a level to exercise dominance, while Berankis was able to gather enough quality moments to stay in the match. It was an exciting game and as soon as the fifth serve game showed his opponent weakness at 5 feet 9 inches, a terrible double error to give a break point that Nadal devoured, to take the set 6-4. Berankis immediately took a game from Nadal at the beginning of the second, and while Nadal quickly made it back, Berankis repulsed further defeats again until the fifth serve and the score in the duo when Nadal’s strength overtook him. Nadal returns the ball during his victory in the second round. Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP The third set saw Berankis create memories that he will enjoy at the end of his career, with the 32-year-old breaking early again and this time not only holding on but beating Nadal in some of the most realistic tennis of the match. His forehand ran, his serve was reliable and he scored dramatic points in the fourth set, including the last one before it rained. But at that point Berankis was 3-0 and there was no way the French Open champion could concede such an advantage. Nadal returned to the field dusty and methodically worked his way to victory. Earlier in the day, Stefanos Tsitsipas created a great serving match in the third round with Nick Kyrgios, after rejecting the challenge of Jordan Thompson in the straight sets with 6-2, 6-3, 7-5. The mustache-wearing Thompson was a willing opponent whose defensive defense meant the game was not adventurous enough, but in the end the speed of Tsitsipas’ serve and the aggressiveness of his returns proved to be too much for the Australian. Number 4 has reached the fourth round of Wimbledon only once and has to beat Kyrgios to do it again, but after his first title on the grass in Mallorca last week, the Greek is feeling well. “I felt very good from the beginning,” he said. “I felt confident about something I was not so sure about [about] in the race of my first round, which … I had first [return] which puts my opponent out of position. This worked very well today, giving me many opportunities to constantly break or approach a break. That’s something that worked perfectly. “
title: “Nadal Takes Extra Precautions After Interrupting Beranki S Best Efforts Wimbledon 2022 " ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-18” author: “Roger Espinosa”
Nadal, who says he is living the life of a hermit in SW19 thanks to the Covid outbreak that won a third player in the men’s draw, will now face Italian Lorenzo Sonego on Saturday. “It was not the best start, but it was probably the best finish,” Nadal said. “I have room to get better. “A few weeks ago I was close to retirement, but now I do not feel that way.” Speaking of Covid, he said he was taking extra precautions because: “This is the reality. I stay home, I do not go out anymore. “At some point you have to open up, but then there are more cases, this is part of the difficult world we are in.” A rain delay meant Nadal needed the best part of four hours to see a lively and fearless performance from Berankis. The narrative of the match was set in the first set where Nadal was clearly superior but could not consistently find a level to exercise dominance, while Berankis was able to gather enough quality moments to stay in the match. It was an exciting game and as soon as the fifth serve game showed his opponent weakness at 5 feet 9 inches, a terrible double error to give a break point that Nadal devoured, to take the set 6-4. Berankis immediately took a game from Nadal at the beginning of the second, and while Nadal quickly made it back, Berankis repulsed further defeats again until the fifth serve and the score in the duo when Nadal’s strength overtook him. Rafael Nadal slips into Center Court. Photo: Tom Jenkins / The Guardian The third set saw Berankis create memories that he will enjoy at the end of his career, with the 32-year-old breaking early again and this time not only holding on but beating Nadal in some of the most realistic tennis of the match. His forehand ran, his serve was reliable and he scored dramatic points in the fourth set, including the last one before it rained. But at that point Berankis was 3-0 and there was no way the French Open champion could concede such an advantage. Nadal returned to the field dusty and methodically worked his way to victory. Earlier in the day, Stefanos Tsitsipas created a great serving match in the third round with Nick Kyrgios, after rejecting the challenge of Jordan Thompson in the straight sets with 6-2, 6-3, 7-5. The mustache-wearing Thompson was a willing opponent whose defensive defense meant the game was not adventurous enough, but in the end the speed of Tsitsipas’ serve and the aggressiveness of his returns proved to be too much for the Australian. Number 4 has reached the fourth round of Wimbledon only once and has to beat Kyrgios to do it again, but after his first title on the grass in Mallorca last week, the Greek is feeling well. “I felt very good from the beginning,” he said. “I felt confident about something I was not so sure about [about] in the race of my first round, which … I had first [return] which puts my opponent out of position. This worked very well today, giving me many opportunities to constantly break or approach a break. That’s something that worked perfectly. “
