Photos: A … warm Rafa warmup

TORONTO – It’s been the summer of the hot and sweaty.

And it continues in Toronto this week, where the humidity has made the players – and the courts – a drippy mess.

Even on Wednesday, a long period of rain did nothing to drop the humidity level.

And so as Rafael Nadal finally got on the practice court to warm up for his Rogers Cup opening match against Benoit Paire, it got a little … clingy.

Nadal’s a heavy sweater at the best of times. But on days like these, you wonder how he doesn’t jump out of his skin after 20 minutes in a shirt like that.

He managed to finish his warmup before another wave of rain came, while opponent Benoit Paire’s warmup was cut short by the steady downpour.

Here’s what Nadal looked like:

Not pretty, but straight sets

On the court, despite a few moments on his own serve, Nadal wasn’t particularly troubled by the mercurial (but less liquidy) Paire. Paire could break him, but he couldn’t hold his own serve to consolidate it.

The 6-2, 6-3 score made it seem a little more routine than it actually was.

The red shirt was probably just as soaked. But it didn’t show up as much.