From the outside looking in, the story of Rafael Nadal’s season is simple. The man just keeps winning. With his 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-5) victory over Reilly Opelka in Indian Wells, Nadal extended his career-best start to the season to 18 matches unbeaten. Already he has claimed three titles, including a record 21st major at January’s Australian Open, and earlier this week he passed another milestone by earning a 400th Masters victory. With every whiplash forehand, a new statistical landmark seems to fall.
Nadal, however, has little time for numbers. When he won his historic second title at Melbourne Park, he spoke not of edging ahead of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in the race to be crowned the most successful male player of all time, but of the good fortune he felt at achieving “one more very special thing in my tennis career”. Here, when he was asked if he was happy to have advanced in straight sets against Opelka, he simply replied: “Happy to win. Doesn’t matter how many sets.” As for the announcement that a 10-point tiebreak is to be introduced at six-all in the deciding set of all four majors, he could barely have been less interested.
“I don’t care much, honestly,” said Nadal, the fourth seed and highest-ranked player remaining in the draw. “I honestly don’t have a clear opinion. I am not in favour and not against. I think that’s what they decided. Happy with it or not? I don’t care. I don’t think it’s going to make a big difference.”
What does make a difference to Nadal is the here and now. The challenge before him at any given moment, not the significance others might attach to it – that is what fuels the Spaniard’s fire. From Federer and Djokovic at their peak to the litany of injuries that has blighted his career, Nadal is all about solving problems, making adjustments, finding a way.
So it was on Wednesday, when the here and now took the imposing form of the 6ft 11in Opelka, the 17th seed. There are few secrets where Opelka is concerned. The American’s 140mph-plus serve is frequently unreturnable. His forehand is immense. It is a combination that puts pressure on his opponents to serve well while accepting that rhythm – and returns – will be at a premium. It meant Nadal had to walk a tactical tightrope.
“I tried to play with a high percentage of first serves, especially in the tiebreaks,” said Nadal, “because then if you start to miss first serves, you open the door for him to go for a big return. It is not in your hands any more. Try to put balls in on the return. Find the right balance between not playing too aggressive, because then you risk mistakes, and not playing too defensively, because you know he has a great forehand and he going to go for the winner.”
It was a plan Nadal executed to near perfection in what he described afterwards as his best match of the tournament. The only blight on his afternoon’s work, beyond a second-set break that was swiftly retrieved, was a hint of discomfort from the chronic foot problem that forced him to miss almost the entire second half of last season.
“I felt my foot a little bit on the second set. I was able to keep going, keep running till the end, no?” said Nadal, who has pulled out of next week’s Miami Open. “Today was a little bit worse than the other days. It’s true that for the last couple of days, the foot has been bothering me a little bit more. [It’s] something that can happen. We know that. [I’m] just trying to be ready and stay positive, because [this is] going to be my last tournament on hard. After, we going to go back to clay. That probably helps a little bit more.”
A more immediate concern will be Nick Kyrgios, whom Nadal will face in the quarter-finals following Jannik Sinner’s withdrawal from the tournament with illness.