Australian Open: Rafael Nadal injured in the second round against Mackenzie Mcdonald

With the score at 4-6, 3-4, 15-15, Rafael Nadal sustained the injury during a rally. The Spaniard fell to the ground in pain and was unable to play the following points properly.

“I didn’t want to give up as the defending champion,” said Nadal: “It’s the hip. I couldn’t hit the backhand at all and couldn’t run anymore. But I wanted to play the match to the end.”

He doesn’t know if it’s a muscle or joint injury. He hopes the injury is not too serious and requires a longer rehabilitation process: “Today is a difficult moment, a difficult day.”

During the subsequent change of sides, the 22-time Grand Slam winner took a medical break and was first treated on the court and later in the dressing room on the affected part of the body. Nadal’s wife Xisca Perelló was seen in the stands with tears in her eyes.

Mcdonald plays confidently to the end

After several minutes of treatment break, Nadal returned to the court with a serious expression and continued the match. However, the movements of the Spaniard no longer seemed really round. Again and again his gaze went to the box.

“I thought about quitting the whole time, but the bottom line was that I had to listen to myself,” said Nadal: “I tried to play in such a way that I didn’t make the injury worse.”

“You could almost see his thoughts: Man, I don’t want to give up here, I want to defend my title,” said Eurosport-Expert Barbara Rittner: “But he could hardly move and one only hoped that he wouldn’t injure himself even worse.”

Mcdonald, who had played great until Nadal’s injury, only had to finish the match with concentration afterwards. After 2:32 hours, the world number 63 converted. his first match point and thus advanced to the third round in Melbourne for the second time after 2021.

Nadal hopes for a speedy recovery

“I really hope that the injury doesn’t keep me away from the seats for long,” Nadal said later at the press conference: “Because then it’s difficult to go through the whole recovery process again.”

The injury-plagued top player didn’t just mean the recovery: “It’s about all the work that you have to put in to get back to a decent level.”

In 2022, Nadal had to cancel the Wimbledon semi-final against Nick Kyrgios without a fight because of an abdominal muscle injury. The Mallorcan had previously won the Australian Open and the French Open.

Nadal often injured in 2022

After his knockout round at the US Open against Frances Tiafoe in early September 2022, Nadal had only played four official matches on the ATP tour until the Australian Open – he lost three of them. In total, he only competed in twelve tournaments in 2022 due to injury – in addition to the finals and the four Grand Slams, he also played in five 1000 masters.

Nadal has recently been accompanied by abdominal muscle problems and foot injuries. The Spaniard suffers from the rare Müller-Weiss syndrome, in which the bone tissue of the scaphoid dies off the foot skeleton. This has resulted in multiple surgeries.

In the first round of the Australian Open, Nadal had prevailed against the British Jack Draper (7: 5, 2: 6, 6: 4, 6: 1) – but in the second game he was overtaken by the bitter end. The Spaniard triumphed down under in 2009 and 2022.

(SID)

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