Rafa Nadal will debut at Wimbledon 2022 on Tuesday, June 28, at a time yet to be confirmed by the organization against Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo, number 42 in the ATP ranking. They have never faced each other, and Cerúndolo is going through a sweet moment in his career at 23 years old, occupying his best historical position in the ranking.
The Argentine has only won one match on grass in his career and it was this year at Queen's and against the Spanish Pedro Martínez. Nadal, for his part, returns to play an official match on grass for the first time since the semifinals he lost to Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2019.
The match will be played on Tuesday, June 28, in the second turn of the central court, where the duel between Swiatek and Fett will be played first, starting at 2:30 p.m. In this way, the meeting between the Spanish and the Argentine would start around 4:00 p.m. and can be seen by Movistar. The most relevant matches will go through the channel
"I'm enjoying playing on grass three years later. If I'm here it's because things are going well, otherwise I wouldn't be. I'm happy," Nadal said in his first Wimbledon press conference in three years. The Spaniard arrives at the tournament without having played official matches on this surface, but with two exhibitions in Hurlingham in his pocket.
"I don't know how I get there really, it's hard to predict. It's probably the hardest tournament to predict. It's a tricky surface where you need to spend days on it. I haven't played anything for three years, this makes it extra tricky. Memory It is important, the most recent memory helps on the surface. Within what is possible it has been a logical week, with better moments and worse moments, clearly on an ascending line. The most important thing is that the bad moments on track every time be shorter. The matches have gone quite well for me, I have trained with demanding people. I am confident that I will be competitive", he pointed out.
The tennis player needs to turn the page and for this reason he has not wanted to talk about the problems he has had with his foot. "I can walk normally every day, when I wake up I don't have that pain that I had for a year and a half. In training in general I have been better. In the last few weeks I haven't had one of these days that hurts terrible. In general, I'm positive," he said.
The most positive aspect is that, unlike what happened at Roland Garros, he would not meet Novak Djokovic until a hypothetical final. The same would happen with Carlos Alcaraz, although the expectations regarding the promising Murcian tennis player are lower on grass, where he has only played an exhibition match during the tour and arrives short of filming.
