How Rafael Nadal's Wimbledon 2022 draw has fallen apart after the 1st round

Rafael Nadal came into the 2022 Wimbledon Championships with one of the hardest possible draws, but after the completion of just the first round, things have opened up spectacularly for the World No. 4.

The Spaniard scored a hard-fought win over Francisco Cerundolo in his opener, overpowering the Argentinian 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in four sets on his return to grass after three long years.

He was expected to take on Sam Querrey in the second round, a former semifinalist at SW19. Instead, the 22-time Grand Slam champion will take on World No. 106 Ricardas Berankis.

The Lithuanian, who has won only two matches against top-10 opponents on the ATP tour, scored an unexpected victory over Querrey in straight sets in their first-round meeting. Berankis comes into the contest trailing 0-1 in the head-to-head against Nadal and is unlikely to offer much resistance to the former World No. 1

Lorenzo Sonego was the projected third-round opponent and thankfully, the Italian is still in contention to keep up the meeting with the Mallorcan. Sonego, seeded 27th in the event, needed five sets to dispose of Denis Kudla in the first round and will take on Hugo Gaston on Thursday to confirm his appointment with the 36-year-old.

Marin Cilic, a former US Open champion and finalist at Wimbledon, was the likely fourth-round opponent for Nadal. Unfortunately, the Croat had to withdraw from the tournament at the last moment due to COVID.

This means that 21st seed Botic van de Zandschlup is now the highest-ranked player other than the Mallorcan from their section, setting up a meeting just ahead of the quarterfinals. The pair met most recently in the second round of the French Open this year, where the southpaw won in straight sets.

Although Novak Djokovic remains on track to meet Rafael Nadal in the final, the quarterfinal and semifinal opponents have become much easier

Rafael Nadal is in line to meet Novak Djokovic in the final at Wimbledon

Rafael Nadal and Felix Auger-Aliassime were projected to set up a tasty quarterfinal at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, only for the Canadian to rob fans of the spectacle. The sixth seed fell to serve-and-volley expert Maxime Cressy in four sets in his opener, a result that was simultaneously expected and unexpected at the same time.

11th seed Taylor Fritz, therefore, has become the highest-ranked player in the section. Although Fritz recently beat the 22-time Grand Slam champion at Indian Wells, whether he can do the same in a best-of-five encounter remains to be seen.

Last year's runner-up Matteo Berrettini was the overwhelming favorite to meet the Spaniard in the semifinals, coming off an unbeaten run on grass this season. Unfortunately, like Marin Cilic, the Italian withdrew from the tournament due to COVID, leaving fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and 13th seed Denis Shapovalov as the new players in contention to make the last four.

The mercurial Nick Kyrgios also has a good chance of making a deep run at SW19 in the absence of Berrettini. While all three are very good players, none of them are as dangerous as the eighth seed would have been on the surface.

The all-important summit clash, however, is still likely to be against top seed Novak Djokovic. The Serb also needed four sets to defeat Kwon Soon-woo in his opener, but remains the clear favorite to make it to the final from the top half of the draw.

The three-time defending champion will have revenge on his mind, considering he was beaten soundly by the World No. 4 during their last meeting at Roland Garros last month. Nadal, meanwhile, will be hoping to finally tie their head-to-head record, which currently stands at 30-29 in Djokovic's favor.