BarcelonaRafa Nadal was eliminated this morning in the second round of the Australian Open after falling in three sets against the American Mackenzie MacDonald (6-4, 6-4 and 7-5). The tennis player from Manacorí, who was defending his title in Melbourne, has not resisted the competitive pace after a bad start to the season and has not been able to get past the second match of the tournament. He saved the first duel in four sets against Jack Draper.
The main cause of Nadal’s defeat was a puncture in the hip of his left leg. He noticed it while playing and it adds to the long list of physical problems he has accumulated in recent months. The 36-year-old has this season dealt with a chronic left foot injury, knee problems and a muscle tear in the abdominal area that sidelined him at Wimbledon and the US Open. However, in the press conference after the defeat, the Mallorcan has focused on something else: “If I say that I am not mentally destroyed, I would be lying.” “It’s been two days [amb alguna molèstia a la zona], but what happened to me today is not comparable. I don’t know what I have, if it’s the muscle, the joint… Now I feel like I can’t move, but I don’t really know what I have until they do all the tests,” he added in his appearance.
Despite the permanent discomfort, Nadal did not want to withdraw from the duel. “Being the reigning champion of the tournament, I didn’t want to quit, I just wanted to finish the match,” argued the winner of 22 Grand Slams, who, despite his history of injuries and his age, is thinking of nothing more than recovering se and get back on the slopes with energy: “I’ve been through all this too many times in my career and I’m ready to do it again, even though it’s not easy […] I’m not going to give up anything.” That is, he will work to reverse the physical problems and try to fight to increase his tally of major tournaments.
Nadal falls to sixth place in the ATP
The premature elimination of Rafa Nadal in Melbourne also means that the Manacorí will move from second to sixth position in the ATP ranking, since he will not be able to defend the 2,000 points he obtained the previous season. Not only that, but depending on what his pursuers (Felix Auger-Aliassime, Taylor Fritz, Holger Rune and Hubert Hurkacz) do, he could even fall outside the top-10, a circumstance that hasn’t happened in a while more than 900 consecutive weeks.
And all after an unexpected defeat against McDonald, despite the fact that Nadal had already shown symptoms in this irregular start to the season. On a rainy day, which had forced the organization to close the retractable roof of the Rod Laver track of the Australian Open, the Manacorí was infected by the bad weather and it took 22 minutes to get into the rhythm of the match. During which time, his opponent punished him by imposing a high tempo of the game and taking advantage of the fact that, with these conditions, the balls were slower than usual.
Nadal didn’t have the day, and he knew it. He was uncomfortable on the court, complained to the chair judge that he couldn’t see some balls well because there were some bright objects that made him dizzy and he had difficulties in the serve: only 61% on the first serve for 82% McDonald’s The reaction has arrived, well into the first set, but it has been insufficient. Nadal conceded the first set and conceded a break in the second, which again put him on the ropes.
The Manacor tennis player may be finer or finer, but he never throws anything overboard. He tried to overcome, more with his heart than with his head, and equalized again in the second set, until in a reverse he noticed a puncture and had to retire to the dressing room for ten minutes, to receive medical assistance. Nadal returned to the court and continued to play, with visible discomfort. He didn’t give up and ruined the epic because McDonald, when he had everything in front of him, started to hesitate and missed easy balls. However, Nadal’s movement difficulties were getting bigger and bigger and he ended up falling with honor in the third set, with a 5-7 deficit.
Nadal, who in 2018 also had to retire due to injury in Australia (against Cilic, in the quarter-finals), will not be able to extend his record of Grand Slams. On the other hand, Novak Djokovic, at 21, has the opportunity to match him.