Nadal’s Brisbane Quarterfinals Loss: The End of an Adventure

Rafa Nadal during his quarterfinal match against Thompson (EFE).

Rafa Nadal’s adventure in Brisbane came to an end. He fell this Friday in the Brisbane quarterfinals against a combative Jordan Thompson, by (5-7 / 7-6 and 6-3). The Spaniard was on the verge of returning to the semifinals of a tournament, something that has not happened since he defeated Taylor Fritz on July 6, 2022 in the Wimbledon quarterfinals with a seven-millimeter tear in his abdominal area. The 37-year-old Spaniard could not withstand a daring rival who presented him with a tough cross from start to finish that took longer – 3 hours and 26 minutes – longer than desired for the Spaniard.

Nadal came across his current reality against Thompson after wasting three match points in the second set and looking somewhat broken and suffering from physical ailments in the third, paying for the year away from official competition. He even received medical assistance midway through the third set. Previously, in the second set, Nadal had three balls to close the match; the first with 5-4, and the other two in the tie-break.

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However, Rafa’s return to the slopes is outstanding. He has regained his sensations, has returned to playing every day and has achieved two victories. “It’s just been a good start. It is true that after so much time, after a year, I have played very well and especially with everything that has happened and the circumstances in which I have gotten here,” Rafa assured after Kubler won. Toni, his uncle and mentor, follows the same line. “He can be very happy because the level he is showing is good enough. It’s an exciting start, but we have to see him in more difficult games. At the moment, things are going almost better than we expected,” he explains.

What happens to the balls in tennis: Nadal joins the criticism on his return to the courts.

“Rafa has always had that good condition of getting into shape very quickly. Sometimes, after many injuries, he has come back even better than he had done before. This time is the most difficult because the years are there and it is more complicated. Let’s see if he can continue like this,” continues the Mallorcan coach, who also talks about Nadal’s options in the first ‘Grand Slam’, which begins next January 14 on the courts of Melbourne Park: “I think he does have options. If Rafael manages to play a few more matches, if in Brisbane he plays with more qualified people and in the Australian Open he has a good draw, which is essential as he is not seeded, it is possible that he will have a good tournament in the Open.”

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Since he had to withdraw from Wimbledon 2022, Rafa Nadal did not know what it was like to be in the quarterfinals of an ATP tournament. A negative streak that breaks in Brisbane where at the first opportunity he has gotten involved in his own right, developing great tennis and making us forget the fact that he had gone eleven and a half months without playing. With Rafa, the perfectly aligned bottles, the kicks, his unquestionable left-handedness, the rituals before each service have returned.

The ‘Let’s go, Rafa!’ and with it, the smile of someone who has not only returned, but has done so winning, at a high level, excited, after a year without competing in which only he knows what has been going through his head and everything that He has had to overcome and work to play again. After one of the hardest years of his career, Nadal has brought the same as always, as if nothing had changed.

2024-01-06 16:27:00
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