Sydney, Australia-January 18, 2023

After being affected by the aches he suffered in his hip

What caused him to achieve the worst result in major tournaments since his exit from the first round of the Australian championship in 2016, the first-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal for the title of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam in tennis, left the second round by losing 4-6, 4-6, 5-7, to his American rival Mackenzie McDonald.

Nadal revealed that he is not sure if it is a muscle or joint injury, but it has been with him "for several days", adding: "Sometimes it is frustrating, sometimes it is difficult to accept and sometimes you feel very tired because of all these injuries".

He explained: "Now, it's a difficult moment. It's a difficult day and you have to accept that and move on. I have never been in the position of a whiner, life has given me a lot of positive things and I have no right to complain. (But) I'm exhausted, sad and I feel disappointed. All these things are a fait accompli".

He added: "I can't say I'm not mentally devastated now, because I'd be lying. It's difficult for me but let's see, let's hope it's not a very bad injury".

This early exit opened the door for Novak and Djokovic to equalize his record with the number of Grand Slam titles (22), after the Serb returned to the Australian Championship this year after an absence from the 2022 edition on the background of not receiving the coronavirus vaccine.

After losing the first set to the 27-year-old McDonald, ranked 65th in the world, Nadal suffered aches during the second set and required a medical timeout for treatment before continuing to play.

The Spaniard looked completely upset but continued to play and lost at the end of the meeting, which lasted two hours and 32 minutes.

MacDonald praised the determination of his Spanish rival, who continued to play despite the aches, saying: "he is an amazing champion. "He wouldn't give up no matter what the situation was.

Wednesday's encounter was the second between the two players after their first meeting in 2020 at the French Open, when Nadal emerged victorious from the second round without losing more than three rounds.

Sixth-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime came back from a long way to beat Slovakian Alex Molchan and reach the third round, losing the first two sets 3-6 and 3-6 before rebounding and deciding the next three sets 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.

Unlike the Canadian, Italian Yannick Sener XV did not find it difficult to reach the third round by defeating Argentine Thomas Echeverry 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, while American Francis Tiafoe XVI beat China's Zhang Junsheng 6-4, 6-4, 6-1.

Meanwhile, Poland's IGA shvontik reached the first women's third round by defeating Colombian Camila Osorio 6-2, 6-3 on a day when his program was affected by rain, which was on schedule again in Melbourne.

In 2022, the polish was crowned with eight titles in singles competitions, including the French Roland Garros and the American Flushing Meadows, achieving a great season that made her sit on the throne of the "WTA" professional rating deservedly and without real competition from her runner-up to Tunisian leader Anas Jaber.

American Jessica Pegula, third, and Greek Maria Sakkari, sixth, also advanced to the third round, defeating Belarusian alyaksandra Sasnovich 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) and Russian Diana Schneider 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 respectively.