Former nine-time Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova congratulated Rafael Nadal on tying her for the most wins at The All England Club.
On Tuesday, Nadal started his Wimbledon campaign with a 6-4 6-3 3-6 6-4 victory over Francisco Cerundolo.
Following his latest victory, Nadal now has 306 wins at The All England Club.
With that, Nadal is tied on the fourth place with the great Navratilova.
Navratilova congratulated Nadal and added the Spaniard will certainly clinch many more wins at Wimbledon.
“Congrats Rafa, and you are not done yet,” Navratilova tweeted.
Congrats Rafa:), and you are not done yet!!!:) https://t.co/uSblCtOX9s
ā Martina Navratilova (@Martina) June 28, 2022
Nadal survived a tricky opener
Nadal, 36, was playing his first official match on grass since 2019.
Nadal entered the Cerundolo match as the absolute favorite but the Argentine put up a strong resistance and had a shot at sending the match into a fifth set.
In the fourth set, Cerundolo had a 4-2 lead before Nadal stormed back to win four games in a row and complete a four-set win.
“It’s not a surface that we play very often, and especially in my case, for different reasons, as I said the past three years I didn’t put any foot on a grass court, so it always takes a while,” Nadal said. “It was my first match and as I know, every day is a test and today was one of these important tests. I know at the beginning of the tournament especially, under the circumstances that I arrived here, the victory is the most important thing because that gives me the chance to practise tomorrow again and to have another match in two days. I’m happy for that, without a doubt.”
In the Wimbledon second round, Nadal faces Ricardas Berankis.
Nadal was projected to meet Sam Querrey in the second round but the 2017 Wimbledon semifinalist suffered a surprise loss to Berankis.
Nadal defeated Berankis earlier this year at the Melbourne Summer Set and now he is the absolute favorite to win again.