Wimbledon: Rafael Nadal on and off Centre Court with ease; Sam Querrey through too

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Wimbledon’s second-seeded man, Rafael Nadal, was barely tested Tuesday in his first-round match. Unlike top-seeded Roger Federer, the defending championwho needed five sets to win his first-round match Monday, Nadal went unbothered through his 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 win over 20-year-old Kei Nishikori of Japan.

Nadal hit 44 winners to 33 for Nishikori and afterward pronounced himself ‘very happy’ with the state of his game. Nadal was unable to defend is 2008 Wimbledon title last year when he was sidelined with knee problems. The Centre Court crowd was happy to welcome the Spaniard back.

American Sam Querrey, who is seeded 18th, didn’t even have to play three sets to win his first-round match. Querrey’s opponent, Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine, quit in the third set because of illness; Querrey was leading 7-6 (4), 6-3, 2-1.

Querrey, who recently moved into a new house in Santa Monica, talked about his Lakers love because the match was so uneventful. He went to Game 5 of the Western Conference finals against Phoenix. The game where, as Querrey said, ‘[Ron] Artest hit that shot. It was probably the best Lakers game I’ve ever been to.’

He is not so much a fan that he stayed up and watched the victory parade on line or anything, though.

‘I just read about it in the morning,’ Querrey said.

-- Diane Pucin in Wimbledon, England