Off-key Rafael Nadal still wins in four sets

Some days at the office are bit of a grind, even if in Rafael Nadal's case, his place of work on Thursday was Wimbledon's sunny but chilly Centre Court for a match against Ricardas Berankis.

The second seed duly won 6-4 6-4 4-6 6-3 to reach the third round but his 307th Grand Slam match win — putting him one ahead of Martina Navratilova and fourth on the all-time list — will not linger long in his memory.

An off-key Nadal never looked in serious danger of having his bid for the calendar-year Slam wrecked by the world number 106, but he knows he will have to play much better in the rounds ahead to claim his third Wimbledon title.

“Every day is a challenge,” said Nadal, who is playing Wimbledon for the first time since making the semi-finals in 2019. “Every day is a chance to improve and I need to improve.

“The fourth set was a better level. I was able to be more aggressive with my forehand. It's important to accept that things are not perfect. I need to keep working.”

The statistics rather told the tale, with Nadal unusually making more unforced errors than winners — 39-35.

Australia's Nick Kyrgios returns to Serbia's Filip Krajinovic on his way to a straight-sets victory in their second-round singles match on day four of the Wimbledon Championships in London, on Thursday, June 30, 2022. AP

Lithuanian Berankis struck the ball crisply and matched Nadal for long periods but gave away a scrappy first set when he chose the worst possible time to hand over his serve with a bunch of poor errors, when trailing 5-4.

The Centre Court crowd probably expected Nadal to move through the gears then but the usual fizz was missing from his groundstrokes and he had to recover a break of serve in the second set as he grafted towards