Rafael Nadal overcame some patchy play against rising star Jack Draper to record his first Tour win of the season at the Australian Open.
The defending champion struggled with his consistency at times throughout his 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, win over the world No.38 who reached the semi-finals of the Adelaide International last week. Nadal’s mixed performance saw the Spaniard produce an uncharacteristic 46 unforced errors compared to 41 winners. Nevertheless, he weathered the storm to seal victory as his oponent started to physically suffer during the later stages of their match.
“If we put into perspective the situation that I went through the last six months I think this is a very positive start,” Nadal said during his on-court interview.
“I played against one of the toughest opponents possible in the first round as a seed. He’s young, he has power and a great future in front of him. I think we are going to see him play here for a lot of years.”
Coming into the first Grand Slam of 2023, Nadal admitted that he was vulnerable in the draw after what has been a far-from-ideal start to the season for him. At the United Cup, he suffered back-to-back losses against Alex de Minaur and Cameron Norrie. He also lost a practice match against Hubert Hurkacz in recent days.
Despite those concerns, Nadal appeared to be back to his top form early on in his latest match against Draper after dropping only five points behind his serve in the opening set. However, it was in the second that the 22-time Grand Slam champion started to encounter problems against the Brit who was playing in the main draw of a major event for only the third time in his career. A four-game losing streak saw Nadal go down a double break as Draper went on to level their match with relative ease.
The drama continued with Draper having to take multiple medical timeouts for treatment on the upper part of both legs. During one change of end, the Brit was seen mouthing to his camp that he was starting to cramp. Capitalising on the opportunity, Nadal stormed to a 4-1 stronghold in the third set before a series of lacklustre shots saw him lose that advantage in what was yet another blip for the top seed. Still, he managed to snatch the lead by breaking his opponent when he was serving to stay in the set.
Exchanging breaks at the start of the fourth frame, the 36-year-old dealt his final blow to his weary opponent by surging to a 3-1 lead. Draper continued to have problems with his leg and at one stage struggled to push up on it when serving. On top of that, the youngster was also dealing with an issue with his abdomen. The unfortunate situation resulted in the world No.2 closing out the match with little resistance.
“Last year (at the Australian Open) it was without a doubt one of the most emotional tournaments of my career,” Nadal reflected.
“I’m super happy to be back in Australia one more time. It’s my 19th season on the professional Tour. I’m very happy to be back at the Rod Laver Arena with a victory. The last couple of months haven’t been easy for me but hopefully, this victory is going to help me.”
Nadal will next take on America’s Mackenzie McDonald in the second round who survived a marathon opening match against last year’s ATP Next Gen champion Brandon Nakashima. The world No.65 prevailed 7-6(5), 7-6(1), 1-6, 6-7(10), 6-4, after more than four hours of play.
So far in his career, Nadal has won 77 main draw matches at the Australian Open.