By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Rafael Nadal is out.
After a convincing title defense campaign with a four-set victory in the first round against Jack Draper, the reigning Australian Open champion just bowed out in the second round after receiving a sweeping loss at the hands of Mackenzie McDonald- 6.4, 6.4, 7.5- last January 18, 2023.
The man who holds the record for the most Grand Slam titles in the history of lawn tennis already faced a lot of setbacks heading into the Australian Open and had his worst nightmare after another injury derailed his performance on the big stage.
Nadal had to leave the playing court for a medical timeout during the second set and was visited by his trainer on the sideline.
Despite the long medical timeout, the Spanish legend decided to return to the playing court and finish the three-set match against McDonald.
The Nadal camp is yet to issue a statement regarding what went down during the medical timeout if the tournament’s no.1 seed was really hurt or was already nursing an injury.
“He’s an incredible champion. He’s never going to give up, regardless of the situation, so even closing it out against a top guy like that is always tough,” said McDonald.
McDonald had to dig deep to oust Nadal and was in danger of dropping the second set after the former world no.1 scored back-to-back down-the-line forehand bombs that put the crowd to their feet.
However, the American rising star gathered himself and became more disciplined with his shot selection that prevented Nadal from his comeback attempt.
The third and last set was a different scenario as Nadal battled with his all, giving McDonald the business that started with his aggressive service game.
Nadal had a terrific start in the set but McDonald’s net game proved to be the difference in the match as the American star closed the gap and didn’t allow the Spaniard to generate more down-the-line winner attempts.
With the win, McDonald is set to face Japanese superstar Yoshihito Nishioka who is coming off an impressive win against Dalibor Svrcina.
