Perhaps he’s solar-powered. As the sun beat down on Melbourne Park on Tuesday, Rafael Nadal scorched a path to the Australian Open second round with a 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory over Germany’s Florian Mayer that confined last year’s first-round exit to history.

As temperatures around Melbourne Park rose into the high 30s, the 2009 champion turned up the heat in spectacular fashion at Rod Laver Arena with an exhilarating display that backed up his assertion that his injury problems are behind him once more.

“The body is good,” said Nadal, no longer troubled by the lingering wrist injury that blighted most of his 2016 season.

“And that’s the key. If the body is not good, everything is more difficult. After Roland Garros everything was more difficult [last year], but that’s in the past.”

Actions mirrored Nadal’s words. Seeded No.9 at his 12th Australian Open, the 30-year-old showcased some of his finest tennis against his wily opponent over two hours and four minutes.

Mayer’s game is, to put it mildly, unorthodox – the 33-year-old hits a flat ball, has a fine net game and is one of the few professionals to throw in forehand slices mid-rally, disguising deep cuts as drop shots to wrong-foot his opponents. But even with every trick in the book at his disposal, he was second-best throughout a sterling performance from the former world No.1.

When Nadal’s forehand is firing – “causing pain,” he calls it – the rest of his game follows. Dotted among the 39 winners were moments that spoke volumes about the 30-year-old’s form and confidence – the curling forehand pass that found the corner of the court and a lunging backhand volley winner in the second set, then the hat-trick of aces early in the third.

It was a sterling start to his first Grand Slam campaign with Carlos Moya. Potent in attack and stubborn in defence, he emerged without dropping serve over three sets.

“When I win my serve, there is two things,” Nadal said. “Obviously, you need to serve well – most important thing. I’m not a player who wins the serve because I serve aces or free points, no? But when I’m winning a lot of serves, [it] is because I am playing well from the baseline. That's why.

“Never easy, the first round – there is always a little bit more nerves at the beginning. I didn't play against an easy opponent – the way that he plays is not a conventional game. You know, he changes a lot of the rhythm of the point, changing with a slice, then he hits a winner. Then he plays a little bit slower ball. It's not easy to read his game, no?

“So, I'm just happy about the way that I played. I played good on all the key points. That's very important for me.”

Up next for Nadal is 2006 finalist Marcos Baghdatis, who advanced after Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny retired while trailing 6-3 3-0. The Spaniard leads their head-to-head 8-1 and is in good form to claim a ninth win with a No.9 next to his name – an unfamiliar seeding that he admits does have an impact on his confidence.

“Oh, yes, it makes a difference,” Nadal said. “Is much better to be No.1 than No.9, no question about that.

“But I am No.9 today. That’s just the real thing. Today I'm the ninth player in the world. I'm going to fight not to be worse, and I’m going to fight to be better again. I feel that if I am playing well and I am healthy, I think I can be much better.”

However far he goes in Melbourne, Nadal’s rankings is set to rise. How far and how high remains to be seen but in this form, no matter the outcome, it promises to be a ride worth watching.

- Michael Beattie/Australian Open