Opinion
Rafael Nadal looked every one of his 36 years and counting on court in his second-round Australian Open exit.
There have of course been the predictable calls for the Spanish legend to call time on his career, what else is there left to achieve, bow out gracefully, yada, yada, yada.
Why should he retire and why would he retire?
He’s got the most number of grand slam victories with 22 and the guy who’s breathing down his neck may win now take his Australian Open crown to join him on the same number of wins.
Nadal was clearly hampered by a left hip problem during his 6-4 6-4 7-5 upset at the hands of American journeyman Mackenzie McDonald.
He started off terribly before the injury threw him off kilter and his lead-up form to the grand slam was poor but so what – there are another three major titles up for grabs this year and the next one on the calendar is one where he’s experienced more than a little bit of success.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
As in, Nadal has won the French Open on 14 occasions. That’s more times than the career grand slams racked up by all but four men’s players in the history of the sport – only Novak Djokovic (21), Roger Federer (20) and Pete Sampras (14).
Australian great Roy Emerson held the record for more than 30 years with 12 all up before Sampras overtook him at Wimbledon in 2000 by beating Pat Rafter in the final.
He’s just got to turn up at Roland Garros and 99% of competitors will know the best they can do is to be runner-up.
Have you seen the vision from the Break Point documentary series of Nadal psyching out Casper Ruud in the players’ tunnel before they went on court for last year’s final.
Pardon the pun, but poor old Casper looked like he’d seen a ghost after he tried to stay calm while Nadal leapt up and down the corridor like a caged mountain lion.
As he careered towards an unedifying loss to McDonald on Wednesday, Nadal could have dogged it like many of his contemporaries and retired mid-match. But he’s not built like that. He came back from two sets down in the championship decider last year on the same court to run down Daniil Medvedev so he refused to accept defeat until the chair umpire proclaimed it to all and sundry.
“I consider all the time stopping, but I didn’t ask the physiotherapist at the end,” he said. “I am old enough to make my own decisions.
“I didn’t want to retire, to be defending champion here. I didn’t want to leave the court with a retirement. Better like this at the end. I lost. Just try your best until the end.
“In the end, I am out of the tournament and he’s in the third round, so well done for him. He was playing at a great level of tennis. Life continues for me.”
The vision of his wife Maria in tears as she watched the defeat set tongues wagging that this indeed could be Nadal’s last trip to Melbourne.
It still very well may be as Nadal, who was dogged by injury for the second half of last year, was non-committal either way when asked about his future at the post-match media conference.
“I accept it quite well during all my tennis career and I was able to manage it well,” he said when asked about his injury woes. “But of course last seven months have been, again, another tough period of time.
“I don’t know what can happen in the future but, yeah, I need to void again a long period of time outside, because if not, it’s tough. If have been seven months playing almost nothing, and then if I have to spend long time again, then it’s super difficult in the end to be in rhythm and to be competitive and to be ready for the fight for the things that I really want to fight.
“Let’s see how the injury is, and then let’s see how I can manage to follow the calendar.”
He doesn’t sound like an athlete who will be swayed by public opinion in deciding when the right time will be to give up this tennis racquet.
Who are we to be able to tell someone like him when it’s time to go?
Who says champions have to retire in their prime or while they’re still close to their peak? He might play on for another five years like Venus Williams, who is 42 and still playing the odd match on the tour, getting wildcards to grand slams.
If Nadal is unsuccessful at Paris after claiming all but four of the titles since 2005, even then that doesn’t mean that he should quit.
(Photo by Sarah Reed/Getty Images)
After many years of tantalising Australian tennis fans with his potential, Thanasi Kokkinakis will never get a better chance to finally live up to his undoubted potential.
The 26-year-old has been on the ATP Tour for a decade and due mainly to a string of injuries, has never risen higher than No.69 in the world rankings.
When it comes to grand slams, he’s only made it out of the second round once – at the 2015 French Open – and after polishing off Italian veteran Fabio Fognini 6-1 6-2 6-2 in their heat/rain/Melbourne weather delayed first round clash on Wednesday, he now faces Andy Murray.
Scotland’s greatest player is one of the modern legends of the sport but he’s 35 and coming off a four-hour, 49-minute slugfest on Tuesday when he outlasted 13th seed Matteo Berrettini 6-3 6-3 4-6 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (10-6). It was Murray’s first win over a player ranked in the top 20 since 2017.
“He may have lost a little bit, but his anticipation is just as good as ever, and he can still play at the top of the best of them,” Kokkinakis told reporters when asked about Murray.
“He was someone when I came onto tour that was always willing to give some advice when he thought. I practised with him a fair bit, I played doubles with him at Indian Wells, so we have a fairly good relationship.”
If Kokkinakis can get past Murray, his side of the draw is wide open with second seed Casper Ruud (who he wouldn’t meet until the round of 16) the only high-ranking player on the horizon.
Last year’s runner-up Danielle Collins had an embarrassing blunder she’d rather forget before closing out her second-round win over Czech opponent Karolina Muchova.
After winning a point to go 7-3 up in the third-set tie-breaker, Collins dropped her racquet and raised her arms to celebrate.
But as she walked to the net the chair umpire reminded her that third-set breakers in grand slams go to 10 points. She smiled at her error and regrouped to close it out 10-6.
“I was a little embarrassed. I guess I’ve never had to play a tie-breaker in the third set in a grand slam, I really thought the match was over,” she said with a laugh.
“I’m not good with the score either, sometimes I forget so I gotta work on that.”
PLAYER OF THE DAY: Felix Auger-Aliassime – the Canadian title hopeful fought back from two sets down against unheralded Slovakian Alex Molcan to advance to the third round. The sixth seed peeled off 15 of the last 19 games.
STAT OF THE DAY: Rafael Nadal’s shock second-round loss will leave the Open without either the great Spaniard or fellow tennis titan Roger Federer in the second week for the first time since 2004.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I can’t complain about my life at all. So just in terms of sports and in terms of injuries and tough moments, I mean, that’s another one. Just can’t say that I am not destroyed mentally at this time because I will be lying.” – Nadal accepts his defeat to Mackenzie McDonald with grace after injury or illness cruelled his Melbourne Park campaign for a seventh time.
TOURNAMENT SUMMARY: Nadal’s premature exit has blown the top half of the men’s draw wide open, with his departure a huge blow to a tournament already reeling from a host of high-profile withdrawals. Women’s No.1 Iga Swiatek and third seed Jessica Pegula cruised into the third round, though it took sixth seed Maria Sakkari three sets to see off qualifier Diana Shnaider. Rain again caused chaos with the schedule on outdoor courts amid a backlog of delayed matches. – factbox via AAP
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