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Rafael Nadal looked like he had never been away as he made a welcome return to Wimbledon with a ruthless 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 win over Japanese wildcard Kei Nishikori on Tuesday.
The Spanish world number one missed out on defending his title last June as he nursed his aching knees back home in Mallorca.
On the second day of the championships, he was back on a sun-soaked Centre Court and wasted little time in tormenting an opponent whom he had once tipped as a 'future top 10 player'.
The 20-year-old Nishikori, on a comeback trail after missing most of the 2009 season with an elbow injury, had the audacity to break Nadal for 3-3 in the third set but his joy was short-lived.
Nishikori, whose ranking has dropped to 189 since his injury, saved four breakpoints in the next game but had no answer to a superb backhand from Nadal on a fifth.
Nadal, who sprang from his chair even before the umpire had finished saying 'Time' at every change of ends, powered to victory with an overhead smash on match point to finish in just over two hours.
"It is always special to play on this court so I am very happy to come back to this tournament and play on probably the most beautiful and most emblematic court in the world," Nadal told a news conference.
Asked if he was nervous about possibly playing his second-round match against Dutchman Robin Haase in front of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, who will attend the tournament for the first time in 33 years on Thursday, Nadal shrugged.
"I would love to have the chance to say hello to her but that's it," he said, before adding in Spanish: "I would love to have a photo with her."
