Australian Open: Rafael Nadal could not cope with his physical problems or McDonald and was quickly eliminated

Rafael Nadal lost this Wednesday in the second round of the Australian Open against Mackenzie McDonald and was dropped quickly removed of the first Grand Slam of the season. The Spaniard, last winner at Melbourne Park, injured his left thigh in the second set and played the rest of the match in non-optimal physical condition.

This defeat against the American placed him in 65th place in the ATP ranking, with partials of 6-4, 6-4 and 7-5, destined for the tennis player from Manacor the first removal of one of the top four tournaments on the circuit since Australia 2016.

Furthermore, he has lost the possibility of increasing the difference in ‘major’ titles with his great rival, Serbian Novak Djokovic, who will have the chance to equal his 22 league titles.

The grayish color of the Melbourne sky heralded the future of a fateful afternoon for a Nadal who firstly failed to find his best version to face the indisputable proposal of the young McDonald and, secondly, was left with no alternatives due to his injury.

The rain forced the tournament organization to close the retractable roof of the Rod Laver court and the thickness of the balls, strongly criticized by several tennis players in the first two days of the competition, helped the style of a McDonald’s which was excellent.

The American had only won once in his entire career against a top 5 player, in 2019 against Argentine Martín del Potro, but he promised a “memorable” match and in the first match he had already broken the Spaniard.

Raised before the greatest Grand Slam winner in history, the Californian has become a wall, arriving and returning all the blows from Nadal, who desperately wanted to make mistakes that were uncharacteristic of him.

With another bad serve and a 4-1 deficit on the scoreboard, Nadal finally managed to break the Californian’s serve who, however, won the first set.

McDonald’s performance continued into the second half, defending itself tooth and nail on Nadal’s runs and unleashing winners when needed.

In something unusual for him, Nadal, who had previously been angry with the chair umpire for the short time allowed between serves, screamed outbursts finding themselves down 2-0 again in the second set.

Then came a slight reaction from the Spaniard who, by varying the direction of his shots more and going to the net more often, managed to even the score. But when the game seemed tilted in his favor, he dropped another serve and he got injured in the middle of a race to try and reach a cornered ball with 4-3 on the board.

The Spaniard stopped in apparent pain and remained leaning against the barrier, covering his face with his arm. The game is over and then He retired to the locker room with signs of painwhile a camera pointed to the stands at his wife wiping away a tear, to be treated by the doctors.

Clearly injured, barely able to run, he returned to try and finish the match. With quick points, set serves and clutch shots that he had just shown before, he kept the score almost to the end of the set, until McDonald got a break in the penultimate game.

A sharp drop in the ranking

Nadal, top seed in Australia, he will drop from second to sixth position on the ATP list after losing to McDonald and failing to defend the 2,000 points he earned from his win at the 2022 Australian Open.

The main Spanish hopeful experienced the same situation during the 2018 edition when he was forced out with a right thigh discomfort during the fifth set against Croatian Marin Cilic in the quarterfinals.

He also had no luck in doing so during the 2014 final against Swiss Stan Wawrinka on the same stage, when a back injury during the second set reduced the chances of Nadal scoring the third despite losing in four sets.

Nadal’s presence in the top 10 could be alarming given that his closest pursuers (Felix Auger-Aliassime, Taylor Fritz, Holger Rune and Hubert Hurkacz) still have options at the Australian Open.

Defeat and elimination for Tomás Etcheverry from La Plata

After earning his first Grand Slam victory in Australia, the Argentine Tomás Etcheverry was out of competition after losing against the Italian Jannik Sinner, one of the most promising youngsters on the circuit, 6-3, 6-2 and 6-2.

The 23-year-old from La Plata had beaten the French Gregoire Barrere in the first round, but was powerless against the Italian, quarterfinalist of three Grand Slams last year, who settled the match in less than two hours.

Her compatriots Francisco Cerúndolo (seeded 28) and Nadia Podoroska are due to play their second-round matches this Wednesday against France’s Corentin Moutet and Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka respectively, but their starts have been delayed due to rain.

With information from EFE and AFP.

IS