Brisbane: Rafael Nadal made an impressive return to the Tennis world in 12 months beating Dominic Thiem in two straight sets by a scoreline of 7-5, 6-1 on Tuesday at the Brisbane International. There was a huge hype regarding the return of the 92-time tour-level title winner to competitive action. The Spaniard displayed his capability to outplay opponents with some brilliant game play in the match hitting the ball cleanly from the deep.
“Today is honestly an emotional and important day for me after probably one of the toughest years of my tennis career, without a doubt. I had the chance to come back after a year and play in front of an amazing crowd, I think, at a very positive level," Nadal stated in his on-court interview.
“On the first day, it is something that makes us feel proud. Myself, all the team and family that have been there every single day during the past year.” The 37-year-old made a quick start in the match winning first nine points, but Thiem kept fighting with determination to keep himself alive in the contest. The 12th game turned out to be decisive for the result of the game as Nadal inked the first break points in the game. From there on, Nadal raced towards victory with the help of 12 winners, three aces and winning 90 per cent of points behind first serve in the match.
With the victory, Nadal surpassed fellow former World No. 1 Ivan Lendl on the all-time leaderboard. Only Jimmy Connors (1274), Roger Federer (1251) and Novak Djokovic (1088) are now ahead of the Spaniard and he will be keen to go as close as possible to the record by winning the ongoing tournament and emerge triumphant in the Australian open.
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