Watch: Fans go berserk seeing Rafael Nadal’s ‘absolutely sensational’ backhand volley during Wimbledon 1st round victory

Rafael Nadal was in excellent form on Tuesday as he sealed a 6-4 6-3 3-6 6-4 win against world no. 41 Francisco Cerundolo in his Wimbledon first round match. Aiming to win his third Grand Slam title of the year, Nadal put in a dominating start but some unforced errors allowed Cerundolo back in. The Spaniard won over fans with his style of play, especially an ‘absolutely sensational’ backhand volley which sent the entire crowd berserk at Centre Court. Starting with a powerful serve, the world no. 4 began to tease his opponent with a short forehand rally. Cerundolo finally managed to put in an outstretched forehand over the net, but Nadal had other plans as he put in a backhand volley to win the point to which the commentator exclaimed, “That is absolutely sensational!”.

Here is the video of Nadal’s backhand volley:

After winning the first set with ease, Nadal sealed the second after breaking serve in the sixth game and serving out to love. But Cerundolo got himself back into the game and won the third set. Cheered on by the Centre Court crowd, a tiring Nadal used all his experience to fight back and seal a victory.

For his second round match, Nadal will be facing Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis on Thursday.

After winning the match, Nadal thanked the Centre Court crowd for their ‘support’. “Three years without being here … it is amazing to be back and I can’t thank (people) enough for the support”, he said.

He also spoke about his challenges in grass court and stated that ‘every day is a test’.

“It is not a surface that we play very often, especially in my case in the last three years I didn’t put any foot on the grass”, he said.

“Every day is a test and I am at the beginning of the tournament and the difficult circumstances (under which) I arrived here”, he further added.