Spaniard Rafael Nadal’s campaign at the Australian Open ended early. The current champion of the tournament said goodbye still in the second round in a duel against the North American Mackenzie McDonald, who won the first two sets with authority, then saw the number 2 in the world feel injured and continue on the court until he was overcome in 2h26 of confrontation , with partials of 6/4, 6/4 and 7/5.
Going through the second round for only the second time in Melbourne, the 27-year-old American and current 65 in the world is trying to match his best campaign in the tournament, which took place in 2021 by reaching the round of 16. To do this, he needs to overcome the winner of the match between Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka and Czech qualifier Dalibor Svrcina.
Nadal didn’t have a good game even before accusing the physical problem. He played with very short balls and didn’t bother the American that much. The Spaniard’s serve didn’t help him, especially in the first two sets, winning 57% of the disputed points against McDonald’s 66%. He even got the better of the winning balls (42 to 41), but committed far more unforced errors (30 to 22).
Take a bow @mackiemacster 👏@wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis • #AusOpen • #AO2023 pic.twitter.com/lcuueoJZnE
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 18, 2023
The match did not start at all favorable for Nadal, who ended up being broken in the first game and took a while to find himself on the court. He even lost his serve once more, in the fifth game, but managed to reduce the damage soon after with a break on top of McDonald. Then he leveled up, even had the ball to tie in the 10th game, but the American played firmly.
After improving in the final stretch of the initial partial, Rafa returned slowly to the second and again suffered a break right away, this time from zero. The Spaniard saved a break-point in the third and returned the break in the fourth, reaching 3/2, when he led the scoreboard for the first time in the match. However, he wobbled again and suffered a break in the seventh game.
Mission accomplished for @mackiemacster 🇺🇸
The impressive American has beaten Nadal 6-4 6-4 7-5. @wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis • #AusOpen • #AO2023 pic.twitter.com/fkaTpk11te
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 18, 2023
When everything already looked pretty bad for the left-hander from Mallorca, with one set and a break from disadvantage, in the eighth game the situation got even more complicated, with Nadal feeling a problem in the region between his left hip and groin, which led him to call for medical attention as soon as McDonald closed the game and scored 5/3. He even came back a little better, but unable to recover.
In the third set, it became evident that Nadal was physically limited, so much so that he radically changed the way he acted, he went much more towards risk and sought to shorten the points as much as possible. This cooled the game a little and mainly influenced McDonald’s performance, who had difficulty taking advantage of the situation and only broke in the 11th and penultimate game.
Always a pleasure, @RafaelNadal 🫶#AusOpen • #AO2023 pic.twitter.com/CdnOMzYDK0
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 18, 2023
