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Rafael Nadal looked close to his best during the first round at Wimbledon and he will look to keep that going when he plays Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin. Join The Roar for live scores from 10pm (AEST).
The world No.1 didn’t take part in any lead-up tournaments to Wimbledon, having a breather after going through the French Open with just one dropped set.
He will be in for another break after Wimbledon, but would love nothing more than to win the biggest grand slam on the tennis circuit, and the Spaniard did his form no problems in the first round.
While a lack of match practice on the grass is always going to be a concern, getting some easy matches out of the way first up should allow him to work back into it before we get to the pointy end of the tournament.
He came out in the first round and put Dudi Sela to the sword, taking a straight sets win where he dropped just eight games across the three sets, winning 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.
Kuksuhkin is a journeyman but has pulled off some big wins over his time. In saying that, ranked at 77, he has never beaten Nadal in their three metings, including a four-set loss at Wimbledon in 2014 during the third round.
While he had a poor run through the clay court season, Kukushkin had his first big result in many months when he pulled out a semi-final run at Eastbourne, eventually going down to Mischa Zverev.
Beating David Ferrer and Kyle Edmund along the way, he played some very good tennis, but has been inconsistent across 2018, reflected by his ranking. Grass has never been a good surface for the Kazakhstan-born 30-year-old either, winning just 35 per cent of matches on the surface across his career.
Prediction
Nadal will win again, and it will be pretty convincing once again. It goes without saying Kukushkin would have to pull up the upset of his life to knock over the world No.1.
Nadal in straight sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this match from 10pm (AEST) on the centre court and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.