Rafael Nadal’s Australian Open title defense has come to an end after just two matches.
Nadal ended last season and began this one in less than ideal form and his struggles continued with a 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 loss to Mackenzie McDonald during second-round action on Wednesday afternoon. The 36-year-old Spaniard dealt with a hip injury starting midway through the second set in Rod Laver Arena, ultimately managing to finish the match but bowing out after two hours and 32 minutes.
“Sometimes it’s frustrating,” Nadal assured. “Sometimes it’s difficult to accept; sometimes you feel super tired about all this stuff in terms of injuries. (I) can’t come here and say, lying, that the life is fantastic and staying positive and keep fighting; not now. Tomorrow starts another day. Now it’s a tough moment. It’s a tough day, and you need to accept that and keep going.
“In the end, I can’t complain about my life at all. So just in terms of sports and in terms of injuries and tough moments, I mean, that’s another one. (I) just can’t say that I am not destroyed mentally at this time, because I will be lying.
“Yeah, it’s hard for me. But let’s see. I mean, hopefully it’s nothing too bad. In the end (it) has been three positive weeks in terms of practice. So I really hope that (this) doesn’t put me out of the court for a long time, because then it’s tough to make all the recovery again. It’s not only the recovery. It’s all the amount of work that you need to put together to come back at a decent level.”
Even in Nadal’s absence the top quarter of the Aussie Open draw is loaded. Friday’s matchups in that section include Daniil Medvedev vs. Sebastian Korda, Hubert Hurkacz vs. Denis Shapovalov, and Frances Tiafoe vs. Karen Khachanov.
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