In the first set of the Spaniard’s 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over Briton Jack Draper, the man from Manacor was the protagonist of a peculiar situation.
Rafael Nadal faced a curious moment at the Australian Open on Monday when he took on Britain’s Jack Draper. In the middle of one of the breaks in the first set, the Spanish tennis player lost one of his racquets and looked for it for a few moments. .
The answer to his concern about not finding it came from one of the linesmen. “The ball boy took it ”. After that, the Manacor man took the situation with humor, even joking with the chair umpire.
As evidenced by a video shared by the official account of the competition, Nadal had asked to string a racket, but the ball boy had the wrong racket .
For the same reason, the Spaniard had to react quickly, and while the central judge was doing some legwork over the phone, the Hispanic approached the net to inform him of what was happening to his rival. “The ball boy took my racquet,” was heard through ambient microphones on the court. .
Fortunately for the tennis player, this situation did not affect him in the end and he was able to win the first set 7-5. And although the Briton managed to sow doubt after winning the second set 6-2, Nadal brought out all his talent and eventually qualified for the round after closing the third and fourth sets 6-4, 6 -1.
In this way, the Manacorí will have to face the American Mackenzie McDonald in the second round of the competition.
positive evaluation
Nadal’s Grand Slam reunion left the tennis player with positive feelings. This was reflected once the meeting was over. “When you come from long injury spells, it’s much better to start in smaller tournaments that allow you to win games. Sadly after paternity, injuries and whatever, my return to competition has been in the Masters 1000, indoor track, now in the United Cup playing against two big rivals…it was all very difficult “, he analyzed.
“I think the first set was very orderly in every way, I didn’t make any major unforced errors or tactical errors, I did what I had to do at all times . The first set of the tournament was very positive,” he continued.
He also maintained that he was able to stay calm in difficult moments, especially in the second set. “I was never angry, I tolerated mistakes. For me it was important to forgive myself for things as they happened, the priority was to win the game and knowing that things were not going to be perfect I had to be humble enough to accept that things were going to be difficult. ”.
Regarding his physical condition, the 22-time Grand Slam winner commented that “I’m a lot thinner than I’ve been for the past few years, I tried hard, I worked hard for weeks, then the results have to come out and we are working so it comes out. Today was a step forward for me and we have to keep going”.
“It was an important match, because in the end when you work, you want results. But patience is something that I have mastered well in my career, with the injuries, with the times when I had to accept the difficulties and physically I think I am fine, my legs have felt good, I am more or less fast or at least it seems to be in training “, he completed.
Track to El Deportivo
Source: Latercera
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
