Rafael Nadal
IN PHOTO: Tennis - Aegon Championships - Queens Club, London - 16/6/15 Men's Singles - Spain's Rafael Nadal watches the replay screen during his first round match Action Images via Reuters / Paul Childs Livepic Reuters / Paul Childs

Rafael Nadal is set to kick off his Wimbledon campaign against Thomaz Bellucci on Tuesday at the Centre Court of the All England Club. Nadal leads their series 4-0.

Nadal’s first round match against Bellucci at Wimbledon marks the fifth time that the pair will meet on professional tour. It will be a repeat of their first round match during the 2012 Wimbledon, which the Spaniard won. The other two of their previous encounters also took place in a grand slam tournament during the second round of the Roland Garros (2008 and 2010). Their latest meeting took place at the Rio Open.

Following his French Open heartbreak when he was denied a 10th title at the French Open, Nadal shifted his focus on the grasscourt tournaments. The 14-time grand slam champion competed in his first grasscourt event at Sttutgart as a leadup to the Wimbledon Championships. He defeated Serbian Viktor Troicki 7-6 6-3 to claim his first-ever trophy on grass since winning the trophy at the All England Club in 2010.

Nadal was hoping to continue his winning performance on at the Aegon Championships at Queen’s, but he was stopped by Alexander Dolgopolov in the opener.

Meanwhile, the 42nd-ranked Bellucci of Brazil claimed his first title of the season at the Geneva Open when he dispatched Joao Sousa in the final 7-6(4) 6-4. The 27-year-old Brazilian’s next tournament was the Roland Garros, but lost to Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the second round 7-5 6-4 6-4.

Bellucci began her grasscourt campaign at the Aegon Open in Nottingham. He received a bye on to the second round, but failed to further progress in the event after losing to Germany’s Alexander Zverev 7-6(7) 3-6 4-6.

Bellucci’s best performance at SW19 was in 2010 when he made it in the third round. He eased past unseeded Ricardo Mello 6-4 6-4 6-4 and qualifier Martin Fischer 6-7 7-6 7-6 6-2 in the early rounds. However, Bellucci’s quest to win his first grand slam trophy was crushed by sixth-seeded Robin Soderling. It was the year when Nadal claimed his second Wimbledon trophy. Bellucci has a 3-4 win-loss record at SW19.

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