Melbourne (Australia) (EFE) 6-3 and 6-4, in a second-round clash that lasted close to four hours.
Therefore, he could not surpass his best record, which he obtained in both 2022 and 2020, and left his compatriots Roberto Bautista (24) and Pablo Carreño (14) as the only national tennis players with options in the final draw.
Nadal suffers a psoas injury and will be out for 6-8 weeks
The Spanish Rafael Nadal underwent an MRI this Thursday in Melbourne and found out that he suffers a second degree injury in the iliopsoas of his left leg, for which he will be out for between six and eight weeks, according to a press release issued by his team.
The injury occurred when the reigning Australian Open champion tried to stretch to return a ball on his right side when the score was 6-4 4-3 against American Mackenzie McDonald.
Despite the inconvenience, Nadal decided not to give up and fought without being able to hit a backhand until the American closed out the second round match 6-4, 6-4, 7-5.
The champion of 22 Grand Slam titles, who was accompanied by Doctor Ángel Ruiz-Cotorro at the Teknon Clinic in Melbourne, will be on sports rest for the next few days and will begin anti-inflammatory physiotherapy with the aim of resuming training as soon as possible.
(Nadal will miss his next appointments on the tennis calendar in Doha and Dubai, which will take place in the last week of February and the first week of March.)
