Sorrow for Nadal while SA's Lloyd Harris is out of the Australian open


By Neo Poho

Defending Champion Rafael Nadal's 2023 Australian Open journey came to a bitter end on Wednesday afternoon as he struggled in the match and succumbed to a hip injury in the second set.

Nadal went down to unseeded American Mackenzie McDonald 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 in the second round despite trying his best to stay in the match.

"Can't say that I am not destroyed mentally at this time because I will be lying, it is hard for me," Said Nadal. Nadal crashing out in the second round was his earliest defeat at a Grand Slam since 2016.

History seems to be repeating itself as the injury curse continues for Nadal, after winning the Australian Open last year, Nadal suffered a stress fracture of the ribs in March before requiring daily pain-killing injections in his left foot to see him through to a 14th French Open title in June.

Then an abdominal injury was the reason the Spaniard's dreams for a third Wimbledon were dashed in July last year. Despite the emotional exit, Nadal acknowledged that at his age it was getting harder to deal not only with injuries, but the recovery process then regaining fitness to compete at the level he expects.

"The last seven months have been again another tough period of time, I don't know what can happen in the future but I need to avoid again a long period of time outside of the sport." Nadal added

The 36 year old's opponent, McDonald expressed his delight after the victory over Nadal mentioning that he was happy with how he executed his game and giving much credit to his coach.

Elswhere, South Africa's Llolyd Harris has been eliminated by Marton Fucsovics in the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Having defeated Lorenzo Musetti in the first round, Harris went down 6-2, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in a match that took three hours and five minutes against Fucsovics.

The 186th ranked Harris started really sloppy after losing the opening two sets before he found his rhythm and came back to the match in the third set. However it was too little too late as the world no. 78 Fucsovics closed off the match in the fourth set.


Article Tags

Tennis

Rafael Nadal

Australian Open

Lloyd Harris

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