Nadal and a worrying start to the season: he suffered an unprecedented defeat in the United Cup

Rafael Nadal he finished 2022 with an unplanned loss and started 2023 with another unplanned loss. Yes, the world number two was surprised this Monday by the Australian Alex de Minaurwho beat him 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 in two hours and 42 minutes of action in a United Cup clash.

This is the third time in his lavish career that the Spaniard has started a year with a loss. The first time was in 2004, when he fell against Thierry Ascione in Chennai. And the previous one happened in 2015, when he fell in Doha against Michel Berrer.

In this way, Nadal, 36, will arrive at the Australian Open, where he will have to defend the title won in 2021, without the good feeling of winning matches. In fact, he hasn’t signed up for any tournaments before stepping on the concrete at Melbourne Park, beyond the fact that he could play an exhibition like Kooyong’s.

A) Yes, Rafa finished his participation in the United Cup without scoring any points. And this also puts his status as second in the world rankings at risk, as on Monday he will lose the 250 points he earned last year for being ATP champion in Melbourne.

For now, only 50 points separate them from the Norwegian Casper Ruud, who could continue to grow if he wins in the new team tournament. The Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas also made a comeback, 215 points behind Manacorí.

The match

After winning the opening set and getting a ‘break’ in the first game of the second, Nadal was overwhelmed by the physical performance and aggressiveness of his rival’s shots. He reacted magnificently in the third, but an excellent job by De Minaur, 23, decided the crash at the decisive moment.

Both the Australian team, who lead 1-0, and the Spanish team were already ruled out of going to the final at the Sydney venue, which one of the Final Four participants will drop out of, which Great Britain will do. , who have already beaten both, Spain 4-1 and Australia 3-2.

Despite the defeat, the match left a handful of positive notes for Nadal. Especially his ability to react when the game got complicated. And also what he was looking for in this competition: minutes on the pitch against challenging opponents. De Minaur was.

In the first set, Nadal responded immediately to a break from the Australian and tied the match without delay (3-3), a preamble to the great eighth game, in which he went from De Miñaur’s 40-0 to make a new ‘break ‘ . With his serve she signed her fourth game in a row and with this she closed the set.

Good exchanges in the first leg in which the Spaniard went from keeping up with the local player’s pace to imposing his own, with an increasingly damaging backhand.

De Minaur gave up first serve in the second set, outclassed twice by Nadal. There was nothing to suggest that the Spanish weren’t going to add more games to that set.

The Aussie hung on to make up that serve and signed off the next white. The party was alive. After almost twelve minutes he also scores the fourth game, in which he shows desire, game and legs and signs another break (3-1) which puts the set on the plate. Growing up, Nadal didn’t give up, the clash offered excellent moments, but the Australian was always superior.

Nadal wasted four break points in the second game and lost his serve in the fifth, but with a new energetic reaction he recovered it in the next and raised his level another level.

With 5-5 and serve, Nadal gave up three break points and lost the first with a very long forehand. It was enough for De Miñaur to keep serving to close the game and he did it in great style, in white. It was his first victory in four fights against the best winner of the Grand Slam tournaments.

On 31 December, upon returning to official competition after months of absence, Nadal could not avoid defeat against the British Cameron Norrie (3-6, 6-3 and 6-4).

Nadal’s next engagement will be the Australian Open, starting January 16.

Source: EFE