BREAK POINT!
Grouchy Nadal limps out in agony
THE lingering wave goodbye and the tears of his wife in the stand were a reminder that Rafael Nadal will not go on for ever.
The defending champion described himself as ‘destroyed mentally’ after injury hastened his demise in the Australian Open second round.
However, he was not seeing his 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 dismissal by American Mackenzie McDonald as more than just another obstacle to overcome as his body moves, ever less co-operatively, into its late 30s.
Up in the stands of the Rod Laver Arena his spouse, Xisca, could not hide her emotions after he appeared to jar himself around the left hip area late in the second set.
He went off for the court for a treatment break, but carried on with only partial mobility before being finished off.
Later he tried to be philosophical about this latest issue in an increasing plague of physical setbacks.
‘I can’t complain about my life at all. So just in terms of sports and in terms of injuries and tough moments, it’s another one,’ said
Nadal. ‘I can’t say that I am not destroyed mentally at this time, because I will be lying. ‘It’s been a couple of days like this, but nothing like today in that movement. ‘We’re going to start talking about that now, but I don’t know what’s going on, if it’s muscle, if it’s joint. Let’s see, hopefully it is nothing too bad. ‘I have history with issues in the hip. I had to do treatments in the past but it was not this amount of problem. Now I feel I cannot move.’ He insisted he had no desire to give up, adding: ‘It’s simple, I love playing tennis.
‘But, of course, it’s tiring and frustrating to have part of my tennis career on the recovery process and trying to fight against this stuff all the time.’
Nadal has now come off worst from seven out of his last nine matches going back to the US Open, a ratio of defeats not equalled since right at the start of his career.
Now that he is 36 and a father, there will inevitably be speculation over how much more he will want to take, and he has not been the same since pulling out of last year’s Wimbledon semi-final.
Even before the incident he was struggling against the contrastingly mobile 27-year-old McDonald, but thereafter his movement was clearly restricted and it seemed only a collapse from his opponent would save him.
Nadal was struggling to stay in the second set at 3-5 when a relatively innocuous movement on the baseline saw him suddenly pull up and clutch his lower left side.
Already he had been in a grouchy mood, giving the umpire an uncharacteristic volley over the use of the shot clock between serves.
He is due to play in Dubai next month, though his participation must now be in the balance, at best.
Daniil Medvedev, the man Nadal beat in the final 12 months ago, fared better, beating Australian John Millman 7-5 6-2 6-2, while third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas ruthlessly dispatched another home hope in Rinky Hijikata 6-3 6-0 6-2.
Things were significantly more difficult for sixth seed Felix AugerAliassime, who found himself two sets down to Slovakia’s Alex Molcan
“I can’t
complain about my life”
“Fighting this
stuff is really frustrating”
before fighting back to win 36 3-6 6-3 6-2 6-2.
And World number one Iga Swiatek put her first-round struggles behind her as she eased past Camila Osorio.
Swiatek had to fight back from 5-3 down in the second set against Jule Niemeier on Monday but was much more comfortable in her 6-2 6-3 success against Colombian Osorio to reach round three.
The negative for the Pole was that her serve was broken three times, including when she served for the match at 5-1 in the second set, but she took her next opportunity.
Swiatek said: ‘It was really intense and pretty physical. I think it was much tougher than what the score says.’
The top seed will next face Spanish qualifier Cristina Bucsa, who saved a match point on her way to beating former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu.