Demanded by one of the players with ways to look out on the balcony of the good guys, Rafael Nadal carried out his first match at the Australian Open, winning 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 and 6-1, in three hours and 42 minutes.
Jack Draper responded to the good cache with which he arrived at the tournament, displaying all his qualities.
The victory, the first of 2023, has considerable value for the defending champion, who
had lost six of his last seven games
and needed to gain confidence in an attempt to win this open for the third time and achieve his twenty-third major.
This Wednesday he will meet in the second round with the American Makenzie McDonald, 63rd.
There were logical doubts about Spanish.
Not in vain, since he lost to Frances Tiafoe in the round of 16 of the last US Open, he only had one official victory,
the one he achieved against Casper Ruud
in the group stage of the ATP Finals, when he was already virtually eliminated.
Draper kept it up for much of the first set.
It was in his resolution that the Briton seemed to begin to feel what it means to play in a Grand Slam against the man who has triumphed the most in these tournaments.
Already with 5-5 and
deuce
to the rest, the longest distance traveled against the Spaniard's service, he made two mistakes.
Next, he lost efficiency with a serve with which he had been comfortably solving the games, except for a break option from the Spanish with 4-3 in favor, and saw how the Spanish made the most of his first set ball.
Weakness with the second serve
The second set was marked by the difficulties of the defending champion to win points with the second serve.
He went from scoring 88% to staying at 40%.
Draper hit it all.
And all right.
He got two straight breaks and even had ball for 5-0, before evening the score by winning 6-2.
As happened against Novak Djokovic in the first round of Wimbledon 2021, the Briton already had a set, this time in his debut in Melbourne.
The two brief interruptions due to the rain did not affect him at all.
At 21, Draper performs with remarkable self-confidence.
He is quick-moving for his 6-foot
-1 and has barely any holes in his game.
He hits well from both sides and shows off his serving skills.
A quarterfinalist in Montreal last year, after leaving behind, among others, Stefanos Tsitsipas, he reached the semifinals at the NextGen ATP Finals and has just finished among the top four at the recent ATP 250 event in Adelaide.
Treated in both legs due
to muscular problems in the third set
, the man from Sutton kept his bet and did not back down after delivering his service early.
Nadal needed to continue with the success in the parallel right and break again in the tenth game after the equalizer at four.
Despite starting the fourth set with a break, the Briton could not resist the physical challenge and suffered again from his ailments.
He was free for the Spaniard after a difficult debut.
"Last year was one of the most emotional tournaments of my career. I've been on the circuit for 19 seasons and I'm happy to return to the Rod Laver Arena with a victory that I really needed," Nadal said at the foot of the track after the match. .
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tennis
Rafael Nadal
Novak Djokovic