Draper (right) makes his Australian Open debut against defending champion Nadal (left) Dates: 16-29 January Venue: Melbourne Park Coverage: Commentary daily from 07:00 GMT on Radio 5 Sports Extra ‘Tennis Breakfast’ live from Melbourne, with selected live text commentary and match reports on the BBC Sport website and app.
British rising star Jack Draper tested Spain’s Rafael Nadal before physical problems cost him a four-set loss in the first round of the Australian Open.
Draper, 21, leveled at a set apiece, leading to 22-time major champion Nadal, 36, having a frank talk with his team ahead of the third set.
Top seed Nadal led 4-1 but it was still not convincing when Draper fought back before the Briton lost serve at 5-4.
Draper struggled to get going in the fourth as Nadal won 7-5 2-6 6-4 6-1.
Britain’s Kyle Edmund was also knocked out on the opening day at Melbourne Park with a 6-4 6-0 6-2 defeat by Italian 15th seed Yannick Sinner.
Edmund, 28, reached the semi-finals in 2018 but is trying to rebuild his career after a knee injury that required three operations before returning to the tour last year.
Playing with a protected ranking, it was another tough Grand Slam tie for Edmund after he faced eventual runner-up Casper Ruud at last year’s US Open.
Cameron Norrie, seeded 11th, aims to avoid a clean sweep for the British in the men’s singles on Monday when he plays French wildcard Luca van Assche.
In women’s singles, Emma Radukanu made a positive return to the court after an injury scare in the build-up to the Grand Slam.
The British number one moved into the second round with a straight-set win over Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch and could join Harriet Dart there, who plays 32nd-ranked Swiss Jill Teichmann.
Encouraging for Draper, but work still needs to be done
For a while at Rod Laver Arena, it looked like Draper could pull off a stunning upset against a player he described as one of his “heroes”.
His shots troubled Nadal throughout, but the physical problems that have dogged the left-hander’s burgeoning career have returned.
Draper collapsed at the 2021 Miami Open with heat-related illness and was also forced to withdraw from his third-round match at last year’s US Open when he was in a decent position against the Russian 28th seed Karen Khachanov.
This time he struggled with what appeared to be cramping and needed treatment from the physio in the third set.
It wasn’t until the latter stages of the fourth that Draper – who climbed to 38th in the world after being outside the top 250 last year – was unable to break back on serve.
Developing his body for the rigors of the ATP Tour was a pre-season priority after hiring former Olympic sprinter and bobsledder Dejan Vojnović as a fitness coach.
It was another reminder that the team still has work to do to improve the youngster’s fitness.
But performances like this confirm that he looks set to have an exciting future ahead of him as he embarks on what is still his first full season on the ATP Tour.
“I played one of the toughest possible opponents in the first round,” Nadal said.
“He’s young, he’s got strength and he’s got a great future ahead of him. We will see him play for many years to come.”
Nadal finds himself vulnerable
Nadal avoided becoming the first defending men’s champion to lose in the first round in Melbourne since Boris Becker in 1997.
Defending champion Nadal is the top seed in the absence of injured world number one Carlos Alcaraz, but after six defeats in his previous seven matches, admitted he is vulnerable to losing against Draper.
So it turned out. Nadal was far from his best, seemed to lack speed and made a catalog of uncharacteristic errors.
With vocal support for the Spaniard, Draper started confidently and faced his big-name opponent for most of the first set.
Shot selection between the pair proved key at key stages. A visibly irritated Draper regretted hitting a poor forehand into the net at 5-5 deuce on Nadal’s serve and was penalized for two poor drop shots in the 12th game.
But Draper stayed level in the second set and threatened to beat the struggling Spaniard, who made 24 unforced errors.
Nadal’s frustration was evident when he was drawn into a heated exchange with coach Carlos Moya, and whatever was said seemed to encourage the former world number one to play more aggressively.
However, he was mainly helped to take a 4-1 lead by Draper, who threw a pair of double faults in the fifth game and the Briton’s weakening condition.
Nadal eventually reached the fourth set and secured a meeting with American world number 65 Mackenzie MacDonald in the second round.
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