Defending the title
The Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal will have a hard road to travel to try to reach the final rounds and defend his title at the Australian Open, first ‘Grand Slam’ of the season and in which he will have a demanding debut against the British Jack Draper. SOURCE: (EUROPA PRESS)
Uncharitable draw
The draw for the main draw of the tournament held last Thursday was not too kind to the player from Manacor, top seeded after the withdrawal of Carlos Alcaraz and who will not be on the same side as the Serbian Novak Djokovic.
First game, against Draper
The Spaniard, double winner at Melbourne Park, will start his journey against the young Draper, left-handed like him, number 40 in the world and who will arrive with good feelings to the ‘big’ because this Thursday he qualified for the semifinals of the tournament in Adelaide 2.
Draper: «It will be a special occasion»
«It will be amazing to play against him, he’s a great champion. Obviously, there are a lot of emotions when I think about facing him. Whatever happens, it will be a special occasion for me, I’m still very young, so it’s great to have this kind of experience and exposure to play against someone like Rafa on a court as big as that. But I want to play really well and compete hard and do the best I can,» Draper said in statements published on the ATP website after his victory over Russian Karen Kachanov.
Easier way to the round of 16
From there, the road could be ‘easier’ until the round of 16 where the theoretical crossing is with the American Frances Tiafoe, sixteenth favorite and his executioner in the same round in the last U.S. Open, or the Canadian Denis Shapovalov.
In the quarterfinals he will face Medvedev
In the quarterfinals, a possible rematch of the 2022 final against Russian Daniil Medvedev, while in the semifinals the top seeds are Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas and Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime.
