The Spaniard debuts with Jack Draper, 40 in the world, and has Tiafoe, Medvedev and Tsitsipas on the way
No luck for Rafael Nadal in Australia. This morning’s draw has left him with a devastating picture, with a rocky start and some rounds from the round of 16 that could validate the final.
The Spaniard, who played two games this season and both ended in defeat, will begin his title defense against Britain’s Jack Draper, one of the players who have progressed the furthest since early 2022.
Draper, now ranked 40th in the rankings, was a junior Wimbledon finalist in 2018 and was on the verge of becoming British tennis’s great hope following the decline of Andy Murray. However, it stagnated and by early 2022 was outside the top 200 in the world. His season started with a semi-final in Eastbourne and from there he defeated the likes of Felix Auger-Aliassime, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Dominic Thiem to gradually move up the rankings. A semifinalist in the past Next Gen Finals, this southpaw will be a tough nut to crack for Nadal. In addition, he will play the first final of his career in Adelaide this week.
If Nadal gets through the first round, he’ll have to face off against Brandon Nakashima in second, Yoshihito Nishioka in third, and the turns return from here. In the round of 16, he can face Frances Tiafoe, his rival in the same round at the last US Open. The defeat against the American gave way to the worst series for Nadal, who won only one of his last seven matches and faces the first Grand Slam of the year without any official victories.
In the quarterfinals the main possible rival in Daniil Medvedev, finalist here last year. Despite the downturn the Russian has endured, coming to win a Grand and become number one, his quality on fast circuits is far from questionable.
Some hypothetical semifinals would pit him against Stefanos Tsitsipas or Auger-Aliassime and evade Novak Djokovic and Casper Ruud, finalist of two of the last three Grand Slams, until the title match.
This is one of the most complicated draws Nadal has faced and the main problem is that he is doing it at a tough time with poor sports performance in recent tournaments. In addition, he has the handicap of defending the title and the man from Manacor has never successfully held a Grand Slam title outside of Paris.
Djokovic, a strong favorite to win his tenth Australian Open, starts the tournament against Roberto Carballés and along the way he has Grigor Dimitrov in the third round, Andrey Rublev or Nick Kyrgios in the quarterfinals and Ruud in the semifinals.
In the final draw in Australia there will be a total of nine Spaniards: Nadal against Draper, Carballés against Djokovic, Pablo Carreño against Pedro Cachín, Roberto Bautista against Joao Sousa, Alejandro Davidovich against Alexander Bublik, Albert Ramos against Maxime Cressy, Pedro Martínez against Hubert Hurkacz , Jaume Munar against Dalivor Svrcina and Bernabé Zapata against Karen Khachanov.
In the women’s draw, there will be four Spaniards: Paula Badosa, who will face Caty McNally, Garbiñe Muguruza, Elise Mertens, Cristina Bucsa, Eva Lyss and Nuria Parrizas against Beatriz Haddad Maia.
The Australian Open starts on January 16 and the final will be played on the 29th of the same month.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
