Rafael Nadal is an expanded Australian championship. Remember in the final last season, the Spanish tennis player had a classic comeback after 5 sets before Daniil Medvedev to crown the championship. Along with the expanded French title, Rafa pocketed 22 Grand Slam and holding the prestigious record of the world felt village.
Coming to Australia expanded 2023, because Carlos Alcaraz was absent due to injury, Nadal was ranked No. 1. However, in the second round, the scenario was less expected to happen when the King of the Platform encountered Mackenzie McDonald.
Entering Set 1, Nadal started extremely badly when losing the break right in the first serve game. At game 5, he left the break once more and was led with the score of gap 1-4.
Shortly thereafter, Nadal reclaimed a break in game 6. In game 10, he has a chance to win the break and equalize but cannot take advantage of it, thereby losing 4-6.
Set Set 2, the old script repeated when Nadal lost the first serve game. This time, the No. 1 seed quickly reclaimed the break in Game 4 to need with a score of 2-2. At this time, the drama of the match was pushed to the climax.
Even so, when Nadal was being led 3-4 in this set, he had left hip pain after a move to save the ball. After that, the Spanish tennis player had to rely on the help of medical teams during the break. When he returned to the match, he could not reclaim the break and receive 4-6 defeat.
Set 3, Nadal is affected by injury and moving quite difficult. However, he still played determined. The No. 1 seed to lose the break in the sixth serve game and accept the racket with a defeat of 5-7.
In the end, Nadal lost 4-6, 4-6, 5-7 after 2 hours 32 minutes of play and officially stopped in the second round of Australia expanded 2023. This is the earliest Nadal that was eliminated in Australia since 2016, when he lost to Fernando Verdasco in the first round.
