Rafa Nadal and an incredible moment in Australia: a ball boy “stole” his racket in the middle of the match

Rafael Nadal (2nd) managed to clarify all the unknowns that hovered around him. After a poor start to the season with two successive defeats in the United Cup, he arrived in Melbourne with uncertainty about his game and, at the same time, with the obligation to defend the title won in 2022 to stay top of the table. However, the Spaniard managed to overcome the difficult Jack Draper (38th) 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 and 6-1 at the start of the Australian Open.

Now, beyond everything that happened on the pitch in the long-range rallies and the exchange of styles against the British southpaw, Rafa experienced a curious situation in the middle of the match.

When the match was 4-3 on the draw during the first set, the Spaniard went looking for a racket to be able to change it, since there was a change of balls. However, he noticed a small problem: he had forgotten the bag with most of his work tools.

But that wasn’t all, then he asked a ball boy if he could take the racket to string it to another tension and boy got the wrong one.

Once aware of the situation, Rafa -amidst laughter- informed the referee of the incident and anxiously awaited the return of his main weapon.

“It didn’t distract me, but it was a fun situation. I always look at the number of rackets, because I have some control. I need to see the stringing, the tension and I needed the tension of the other racket. And he took the racket that he was going to use, but in the end it was all an anecdote“, he said. And he added in a chat with Eurosport:” I’m very meticulous with this. But today I made a mistake and had the wrong string, the one I had ready to play. Luckily they brought it to me in time.”

Nadal, on the other hand, assessed how the match ended physically: “I’ve worked a lot in recent weeks on a physical level to get the results. Today was a turning point for me and I won an important match. When you work, the results come. How I said, physically I’m not bad. And when you’re confident and you hit without thinking, you position yourself better on the pitch.”

How do you follow Nadal’s journey in Australia?

Surprisingly, Rafa will not have to face Brandon Nakashima (49th) in the second round, one of the most dangerous Next Gens on the circuit and who has already won ATP titles, but he will do it with Mackenzie McDonald (65th). The 27-year-old American prevailed over the 21-year-old with more than equal scores: 7-6 (5), 7-6 (1), 1-6, 6-7 (10) and 6 -4 in 4h6m.