The top seed Rafael Nadal admitted to have faced a mental breakdown after Wednesday’s second-round Australian Open loss to Michael McDonald, 4-6, 4-6, 5-7.
“I’m upset and it’s hard to accept this result. Sometimes I feel exhausted from the injury.” Nadal said.
“I can’t say I’m optimistic and keep fighting, because that would be a lie. I can’t say I haven’t had a mental breakdown, because it would be lie.” Nadal added.
Nadal suffered of hip injury before his second round match against McDonald. His situation became even more serius when he lost the first set 4-6.
“The past few days I’ve been feeling a bit unwell, but not to the extent that it affects my mobility like today,” Nadal said.
“I don’t know if the problem is in the muscles, cartilage or joints, old wounds come back more severely. I even feel unable to move.” he added.
Nadal asked to stop the match to leave the court and get medical care when McDonald led 6-4, 5-3.
Then there’s a chance he won’t come back. But the Spaniard was still determined to play to the end and lost all three sets with a score of 4-6, 4-6, 5-7.
“I wanted to give up many times, but in the end I kept playing and trying not to let the injury get worse,” Nadal said.
“I couldn’t even hit the backhand, couldn’t chase the ball, I just wanted to finish the game.” Nadal added.
Nadal won the Australian Open 2022, when Novak Djokovic was not able to compete due to lack of visa.
The “King of Clay” said he did not want to give up as the defending champion. He thought it was better to lose on the court, then congratulated the opponent.
This is the first time Nadal has been eliminated in the second round or earlier at a Grand Slam, after stopping in the first round of the 2016 Australian Open.
