The Spaniard Rafael Nadal, current champion of the Australian Open, said his farewell this Wednesday with a defeat and an injury during the first Grand Slam of the year, where the world number one, the Polish Iga Swiatek, and American teenager Coco Gauff continued ahead.

A subscriber to epic exploits, such as the comeback a year ago to win the trophy, the 36-year-old Spaniard succumbed this time to the push from the American Mackenzie McDonald (6-4, 6-4, 7- 5), world number 65, and a new injury, the third consecutive in a Grand Slam.

“I can’t say I’m not mentally destroyed right now because I would be lying,” he said later at a press conference where he was seen shot and voice on the edge of the wall. breakup.

Constantly harassed by injuries, Nadal assured that he wanted to “continue to play tennis” and that he did not want to “take a step back”. But “the glass fills up and there comes a time when the water can come out,” he added.

It had been seven years, precisely since he lost in the first round in Melbourne to compatriot Fernando Verdasco in 2016, since the winner of 22 Grand Slams had said goodbye to one of the four tournaments so soon. majors.

“I didn’t want to retire”

The 27-year-old Californian, with just one top-5 win in his career, had promised a “memorable” game and kept his promises. He broke his serve in the opener and built a wall to repel all of Nadal’s attacks.

Desperate for his mistakes and for the chair umpire, whom he asked for more time between serves, Nadal gave up the first set and again found himself trailing 2-0 early in the second.

The Spaniard then began to tame McDonald’s momentum, varying the direction of his shots and venturing further towards the net. But in the eighth game, he suffered an injury trying to catch a forehand from the American.

Nadal stopped with a gesture of pain and put his hand on his left hip: “the pubis”, he said, watching his team in the stands.

The injury forced Nadal to retire for a few minutes to the locker room for treatment, while cameras pointed to his wife in the stands, wiping away tears.

Barely able to run or hit a backhand, the Spaniard held on to the court and fought until the end of the third set.

“I didn’t want to retire as defending champion here,” explained Nadal, whose elimination leaves Serbian Novak Djokovic even more favored to lift the trophy and equal his record 22 Grand Slams.

the favorites advance

The day at Melbourne Park was conditioned by rain which, for the second day in a row, forced outdoor matches to be postponed until the afternoon, including part of the first round which had been canceled the day before.

But the main matches of the day could be played on the three covered courts, including that of world number one, Poland’s Iga Swiatek, who beat the combative Colombian Camila Osorio, world number 84 (6-2, 6-3) .

Uncertain at first, it wasn’t until 4-0 on the scoreboard that the Colombian took to the court and put Swiatek in trouble, who however highlighted her quality to continue on the path of her fourth Grand Slam.

“It was much more difficult than the result says. It was very intense physically and Camila (…) did not give me many free points, ”assured the Pole.

The rest of the favorites have also resolved their commitments, such as the American Jessica Pegula (N. 3), the Greek Maria Sakkari (N. 6) or Coco Gauff (N. 7), who beat the Briton Emma Raducanu (N 7). ) on center court (6-3, 7-6 [7/4]), surprise winner of Wimbledon in 2021 now world number 78.

At the top of the men’s table, the departure of Nadal left an easier path for the rest of the contenders.

Russian Daniil Medvedev, runner-up in 2021 and 2022, beat Australian John Millman 7-5, 6-2, 6-2, and Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, a three-time semi-finalist in Melbourne, sealed a resounding 6-3 , 6-0, 6-2 against fellow local tennis player Rinky Hijikata.

Two of the new talents of the circuit have also advanced: the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, suffering against the Slovak Alex Molcan (6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 2-6), and the Italian Jannik Sinner, who did not give the Argentinian Tomás Etcheverry an option (6-3, 6-2, 6-2).