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Melbourne (AFP) – The Spanish Rafael Nadal, current champion of the Australian Open, said goodbye on Wednesday with a defeat and an injury in the first Grand Slam of the year, where the world number one, the Polish Iga Swiatek, and the American teenager Coco Gauff followed.
Subscriber to epic feats, such as the comeback a year ago to win the trophy, the 36-year-old Spaniard succumbed this time to the push of American Mackenzie McDonald (6-4, 6-4, 7-5), world number 65 , and a new injury, the third consecutive in a Grand Slam.
“I cannot say that I am not mentally destroyed at this moment, because I would be lying,” he later said at a press conference where he was seen dejected and with his voice on the verge of breaking.
Constantly dogged by injuries, Nadal assured that he wants to “continue playing tennis” and that he does not want to “take a step back.” But “the glass fills up and there comes a time when the water can come out,” he added.
It had been seven years, precisely since he lost in the first round in Melbourne against his compatriot Fernando Verdasco in 2016, that the winner of 22 Grand Slams had not said goodbye so early to one of the four major tournaments.
“I didn’t want to retire”
The 27-year-old Californian, with just one top-5 win in his career, had promised a “memorable” match and delivered. He broke his serve in the first game and put up a wall to repel all of Nadal’s attacks.
Desperate with his mistakes and with the chair umpire, whom he asked for more time between serves, Nadal dropped the first set and again found himself trailing 2-0 at the start of the second.
The Spaniard then began to tame McDonald’s momentum, varying the direction of his blows and venturing more to the net. But in the eighth game he was injured trying to catch a forehand shot from the American.
Nadal stopped with a gesture of pain and put his hand on his left hip: “the pubis”, he said, looking at his team in the stands.
The injury forced Nadal to retire for a few minutes to the locker room to receive treatment, while the cameras pointed at his wife in the stands, wiping away tears.
Barely able to run or hit a backhand, the Spaniard held on court and fought until the end of the third set.
“I didn’t want to retire as the defending champion here,” Nadal explained.
The elimination leaves the Serbian Novak Djokovic even more favorite to lift the trophy and equal his record of 22 Grand Slams, with the permission of the Russian Daniil Medvedev or the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, who went to the third round this Wednesday.
rain disturbances
The rest of the day at Melbourne Park was conditioned by the rain which, for the second day in a row, forced the outdoor matches to be postponed until the afternoon, including some first-round matches that were canceled the day before.
But the main matches of the day could be played on the three indoor courts, including that of the world number one, the Polish Iga Swiatek, who beat the combative Colombian Camila Osorio, number 84 in the world (6-2, 6 -3).
Unsure at first, it was not until she was 4-0 on the scoreboard that the Colombian settled on the court and put Swiatek in trouble, who, however, brought out her quality to continue on the path to her fourth Grand Slam.
“It was much harder than the result says. It was very physically intense and Camila (…) didn’t give me many free points,” said the Pole.
The rest of the favorites in the women’s draw also resolved their commitments: the American Jessica Pegula (N. 3) got rid of the Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich in two sets 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) and the Greek Maria Sakkari she survived Russian teenager Diana Shnaider (3-6, 7-5, 6-3).
And in a duel of young talents, the American Coco Gauff (N. 7) beat the British Emma Raducanu (6-3, 7-6) on the center court in Melbourne [7/4]), surprise winner of Wimbledon in 2021 now dropped to world number 78.
In the men’s draw, the Argentine Tomás Etcheverry could not beat one of the most talented youngsters on the circuit, the Italian Jannik Sinner, who closed the match in less than two hours (6-3, 6-2, 6-2).
© 2023 AFP
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