There are fresh injury concerns for Rafael Nadal after he crashed out of the Australian Open in straight sets to world No.65 Mackenzie McDonald.
The defending champion was far from his best early on in the match before suffering an injury blow towards the later stages of the second set as he succumbed to a 6-4, 6-4, 7-5, loss to the American. A player who had previously only defeated a top-10 player once in his career. Nadal’s loss is his earliest exit from the Australian Open since 2016 when he lost in the first round.
The top seed was trailing 4-6, 3-5, to McDonald before seeking a medial timeout. Towards the end of the second set, Nadal was seen walking gingerly around the court and after one point crouched down in pain. The pain looked to have been coming from the left side of his hip or groin region. Shortly afterwards, he sought medical treatment and left the court.
Returning to action, Nadal initially continued and held serve to begin with. However, he was unable to prevent McDonald from sealing the second set after the Spaniard hit a forehand into the net. Prompting a despondent look from the 23-time Grand Slam champion at the change of end.
The dynamic of the encounter on Rod Laver Arena became more of a mind game in the third frame with McDonald trying to achieve one of the biggest wins of his career against somebody he knows is physically far from their best. Admirbally Nadal continued to fight and produced occasional glimpses of his best tennis by saving a break point at 4-4. However, a couple games later he looked to be in pain once again as McDonald hilt a backhand slice down the line to break for a chance to serve the match out. A task he passed with flying colours after hitting a serve out wide which Nadal returned into the net on match point.
“He’s an incredible champion and he’s never going to give up regardless of the situation,” McDonald said.
“I was trying to stay so focused on what I was doing and he kind of got me out of the rhythm of that.”
Leading up to the injury, Nadal was in trouble during the match and struggled to find the usual consistency in his shot-making. In the opening set, he was broken in two out of his first three service games. Then in a roller-coaster second set, he bounced back from a break down by winning three games in a row before being broken once again before his body betrayed him.
The setback comes after what has been a frustrating start to 2023 for the 36-year-old. At the United Cup, he failed to win a match after suffering defeats to Cameron Norrie and Alex de Minaur. He last won back-to-back matches at the US Open last September.
Meanwhile, McDonald has recorded his first-ever victory over a top-five player at a Grand Slam and his 17th main draw victory in a major overall. He will play either Czech qualifier Dalibor Svrčina or Yoshihito Nishioka in the next round.
