WIMBLEDON, England — Trying to switch directions while chasing a shot beneath the Royal Box at Wimbledon’s Centre Court, Rafael Nadal lost his footing and took a nasty-looking spill, flinging his racket in the air while he fell.
The Spaniard was OK, even if he did land on his back behind the baseline and glanced overhead to make sure his equipment wasn’t going to nail him in the noggin. Nadal toweled off and, four games later, wrapped up a 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the first round at the All England Club.
“If I hit one easy shot, he’s going to hit winners. So it wasn’t easy for me,” Nishikori said. “I think he was playing really well today.”
It was merely a coincidence, of course, that Nadal’s third-set tumble Tuesday left him in nearly the same position, and in the same spot, that he found himself the last time he played a match at Wimbledon, almost two full years ago. Except on that occasion, he was dropping to the grass on purpose to celebrate beating Roger Federer in the 2008 final.
Nadal didn’t defend that championship, withdrawing last year because of tendinitis in his knees. Now he’s healthy, reinstated at No. 1 in the rankings, once again the reigning French Open champion — and back on what he called “probably the most beautiful and emblematic court in the world.”
Said Nadal, “I’m happy to be here again.”
He’s also happy to be able to scamper around a court as only he can, knowing that his knees won’t let him down.
Another past Wimbledon winner coming off an injury, Maria Sharapova, also played, and also won convincingly, eliminating 127th-ranked Anastasia Pivovarova 6-1, 6-0 in 54 minutes.
Sharapova had right shoulder surgery in October 2008 and was sidelined for about 10 months, then was hampered by a right elbow injury this season. She has had to toy with her service motion, in addition to confronting worries about when she would regain the strokes that helped her win Wimbledon at age 17 in 2004, then two other Grand Slam titles.
“You never know until things happen. I mean, I believed that I would be back. Did I really know? I assumed, and I had a lot of belief in myself, and I had a tremendous amount of support from the people around me,” said Sharapova, who won 30-of-37 points on her serve. “But you never really know till it happens.”
And these days, is her best tennis enough to beat anyone? “Absolutely,” Sharapova said.
Joining her in the second round was defending champion Serena Williams, who pounded 15 aces in a 6-0, 6-4 victory over 17-year-old Michelle Larcher de Brito to improve to 43-0 in first-round Grand Slam matches.
“It’s not even about the pace, because I could deal with that,” Larcher de Brito said. “But she places it so well. When she aims for targets, she really hits that line or just clips that line.”
At a glance
Men’s seeded winners: No. 2 Rafael Nadal, No. 4 Andy Murray, No. 6 Robin Soderling, No. 9 David Ferrer, No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 13 Mikhail Youzhny, No. 18 Sam Querrey, No. 25 Thomaz Bellucci, No. 26 Gilles Simon, No. 32 Julien Benneteau, No. 33 Philipp Petzschner.
Men’s seeded losers: No. 8 Fernando Verdasco, No. 14 Juan Carlos Ferrero, No. 19 Nicolas Almagro, No. 24 Marcos Baghdatis.
Women’s seeded winners: No. 1 Serena Williams, No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki, No. 7 Agnieszka Radwanska, No. 9 Li Na, No. 10 Flavia Pennetta, No. 14 Victoria Azarenka, No. 16 Maria Shara- pova, No. 18 Aravane Rezai, No. 19 Svetlana Kuznet- sova, No. 23 Zheng Jie, No. 29 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, No. 31 Alexandra Dulgheru, No. 32 Sara Errani.
Women’s seeded losers: No. 6 Samantha Stosur, No. 25 Lucie Safarova.
TV: 7:30 a.m., ESPNU; 10 a.m., ESPN2; noon, ESPNU; 2:30, ESPN2
