Rafael Nadal takes positive step back from injury with win over Isner

Not long before everything became about Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal was the story in men’s tennis this year. He had only just taken his first uncertain steps back from a near six-month layoff when, suddenly, he was spectacularly lifting the Australian Open trophy, compiling a 20-match winning streak and embarking on the best start to a season in his 20-year career.

Yet as quickly as fortunes can change and momentum can unexpectedly build in tennis, so too can it all collapse. This week at the Italian Open, Nadal finds himself in a starkly different position as he continues to navigate his return to form after being out for six weeks following the fractured rib he suffered from in the final of Indian Wells. In his first match in Rome, Nadal overcame a complicated start before finishing strongly to defeat John Isner 6-3, 6-1.

The overall goal against Isner’s often impenetrable serve is simple for all: take care of your own service games at all cost, then land enough returns to eventually have a chance in his own. But Nadal’s lack of sharpness nearly cost him. At 3-3, under minimal pressure, careless errors caked his game and Isner held two break points. Nadal was cagey on both, just hoping for Isner to miss, and he was fortunate that Isner obliged with two poor, early unforced errors.

Just one substandard game puts anyone in trouble against Isner but Nadal took strength from his subsequent recovery and he immediately broke serve himself. The match quickly shifted and after sealing the first set, he flitted through the rest of the encounter, serving and returning well enough, maintaining his groundstroke depth and limiting his errors as he eased to victory.

As a bitter fight for a record-extending 14th French Open title