LONDON—One row in front of me, in No. 1 Court at the All England Club, a journalist seemed to be preparing for his cover letter to Crayola, or maybe Shermin-Williams. Noble Blue, Wimbledon Green and English White were all jotted down in his notebook.
But then, it was a day for adjectives at Wimbledon. The weather meandered between brisk gusts, disconcerting showers and idyllic warmth. The crowds were teeming, nowhere more so than on venerable No. 1 Court, a venue that emulates Centre Court in nearly every way. In the coming years, it, too, will have a retractable roof, allowing its debenture holders to watch a day’s schedule uninterrupted, aside from an adjournment to refresh one’s Pimm’s Cup or Stella Artois.
The patrons occupied every ticketed inch of No. 1 Court because of a player who can both defy depiction and inspire prose. Over the years, we’ve run out of ways to describe Rafael Nadal, not only because most every adjective has been written about him, but because you only know greatness by seeing it. And on this opening day of The Championships, nearly 12,000 rapt spectators saw another thesaurus-worthy performance from Rafa.
Now, as draws go, Nadal wasn’t exactly given the short straw. He wasn’t playing Steve Darcis, who actually beat Nadal on Wimbledon’s opening day, on No. 1 Court, four years ago. He wasn’t tasked with facing Danill Medvedev, like Stan Wawrinka was later in the day. But before you discount Nadal’s 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 whitewashing of world No. 137 John Millman, consider this: it was the same score—sets altered—that he defeated Wawrinka by in the French Open final.
Nadal has often said that he treats each opponent equally. And after watching him win his 15th Grand Slam title in Paris last month, it’s hard to argue otherwise.
