Rafael Nadal gave Wimbledon an antidote to apathy on Friday

LONDON—After beating Bernard Tomic in the first round on Tuesday, Mischa Zverev was asked to describe his “bored” Aussie opponent.

“Let’s just say,” Zverev began, casting around for the appropriate contrast, “he’s the opposite of, let’s say ... Rafa.”

One of the unfortunate themes of this Wimbledon’s first week has been male players who can’t play or don’t want to play. Nick Kyrgios, Alexandr Dolgopolov and Martin Klizan all retired in high-profile matches, and while Tomic’s body made it all the way through his first-rounder, he was never there at all in spirit. Whatever the reasons, it’s a bad look for the sport.

On Friday, though, Wimbledon got one reliable antidote to apathy when Rafael Nadal took the court against Karen Khachanov. The consensus was that the Russian was Rafa’s “danger” opponent, a 6’6” slugger who could do what Lukas Rosol, Steve Darcis, Nick Kyrgios and Dustin Brown had done to Nadal in recent years here: Take the racquet out of his hand and send him out of the tournament early.

But Nadal was ready. What else would he be? As Khachanov waited to walk on court, he glanced back and saw Rafa leaping up and down to get warmed up. When Khachanov looked across the net during the coin toss, he saw the same thing. No one is better at orchestrating a match—controlling its tempo—than Nadal. It serves the dual purpose of energizing the crowd and intimidating the opponent. If you’re a player and you see the other guy constantly jumping around while you’re just standing there, you might start to feel like a slacker by comparison. If you’re a fan, you never have to doubt that Rafa is into it. Rafa’s matches are performances, but there’s never anything artificial about them.

“I don’t understand the sport without trying your best,” Nadal said afterward. “...The sport, in general, if you don’t try your best, in my opinion, loses everything.”

Whatever Nadal tried to do to prepare for Khachanov, it couldn’t have worked any better than it did in the first set. He broke serve right away, and then broke again with two blistering forehand winners, one to each corner. Instead of the now-famous Wimbledon groan, the crowd let out a Wimbledon gasp.

At the same time, instead of punishing Nadal’s short balls, Khachanov flicked them long. He fumbled his touch shots around the net, where he lost as many points as he won. He double-faulted six times and was handcuffed on serves. Rafa also seemed to expose a weakness in Khachanov by stretching him to his backhand side; the big Russian struggled to defend those shots.

“For a set and a half I was playing fantastic,” Nadal said, “then a little bit worse.”

After reaching that early peak, Nadal came down to earth, while Khachanov found something approaching his range. From there the match was touch and go, as each player had break chances and each failed to convert. Nadal used his serve effectively when needed, saving three break points at 3-4 in the third set with a second-serve ace, a service winner and a wide serve that set up a winning forehand. Two games later, Nadal saved a set point with a perfectly measured forehand drop shot. His 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (3) win looks routine on paper, but if he misses any of those shots at the end of the third, it could have gone in another direction entirely.

“At the beginning I had my chances,” Nadal said of the third set. “I should have had the break, but didn’t happen ... I think I played well the important moments. In the tiebreak, I think I played a little bit better than him.”

In the end, Khachanov’s shots and timing never clicked. Maybe he wasn’t the Rafa killer we thought, after all. Maybe he uses too much topspin, rather than belting the ball flat and through the court. Maybe he’s not nimble enough to defend both corners, which you need to do against Rafa’s forehand. Maybe he was just tight in his first appearance on Centre Court. Maybe the grass is playing a little slower this year. Still, Rafa’s relief was palpable when it was over.

“It’s obvious it’s a tough opponent, no?” Nadal said. “He came here playing good matches on grass.”

“In general terms,” Nadal said of his level, “very well, very happy.”

The Rafa show had its slow moments on Friday. The Centre Court crowd went quiet through much of the second set as Khachanov continued to struggle. But serving at 5-6, Nadal jumpstarted them again by charging the net, hitting three volleys to win a point and celebrating with a fist pump. And when Khachanov’s last return dropped long, Rafa exulted as always.

“Is about competition at the end of the day,” Nadal said of why he plays and what he still gets out of winning. “If you don’t have this competitive spirit ... is better to go running or these kinds of things.”

Rafa also had a reminder for us in the interview room, and for anyone who believes he’s just a dirt-baller.

“I tell you one thing, because I have been winning a lot on clay, they forget these things,” he said with a smile. “When I was 16 years old, two years less [than the 18-and-under age bracket], I played the junior tournament here. I didn’t lose in the first round. I played the semifinals, so I was not that bad on grass.”

It sounds like somebody’s happy to be back in the second week at Wimbledon. And it sounds like somebody still has something to prove here.

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