Some days at the office are a bit of a grind, even if in Rafa 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.