Rafael Nadal seamless also on grass

There was not a seat to be had at the ornate West London club of Queens yesterday as the world No 1 and seven-times grand-slam champion marched purposefully out to compete in the AEGON Championships, where a 52-minute tour de force accounted for Marcos Daniel, the world No 112 from Brazil, 6-2, 6-2.

Looking again at the Spaniard, some 70 hours after he had lifted the French Open for the fifth time in six years, one could not help but be awed. Talk about picking up where you left off. Nadal said he had “practised terrible” and that the way you have to compete on grass is “completely different” from the clay, but there is something about his absolute conviction that renders him a cut above the rest.

Occasionally he looked disconcerted, throwing dark glances at even darker skies, unhappy at not moving as he might and kicking himself if the ball did not come exactly as he preferred from new strings that have so aided his touch this year. Nevertheless, his attitude was exactly as it has always been, as Denis Istomin, of Uzbekistan, will discover in the third round today.

Brazilians are noted for their rhythmic movement but Daniel was often rendered motionless by the bravura ball-striking of the 2008 champion. And although the transition from five sets on clay to three on grass is the hardest in the sport, it is not at this stage of the season where Nadal feels the harsh excesses of the tournament schedule.

“Bad things can happen on any surface but for me the worst is hard courts,” he said. “They are very aggressive for the ankles, for the knees, the back, everything. Tennis is moving more and more to these surfaces but my feeling always [it] is a big mistake because the grass is soft, the clay is soft and the movement is more natural.”