The truth about the Rafa-McDonald match

[Kralingen]

People are going to lie about this for the next few days… so if you didn’t watch the match, here’s what happened - don’t buy into all the BS.

- Nadal was physically fine the first two sets - tentative and subpar, a lot like the Draper match, but not hampered by injury. Timing and depth was off

- McDonald served incredibly well the first set and was playing genuinely good stuff up until 6-4, 5-3. Early ballstriking, confident net approaches, capitalizing on Rafa’s errors. Nadal was softballing and lacked confidence but not all due to himself - Mackie was definitely causing him problems

- At 6-4, 4-3 McDonald serving, Nadal tweaks something and takes off court MTO. Looked like a hip injury and he went off court for 10 minutes. Got painkillers and started playing again

- Nadal’s camp urged him to retire but he refused - just like Wimbledon QF vs Fritz.

- 3rd set was weird, Rafa clearly not moving well, not even attempting to return some serves, pace of the game goes to exhibition level. Rafa managed to hold with some good serves and low margin FHs. Again, similar to Fritz QF at Wimby. But clearly couldn’t move and had no threat on McDonald’s serve, ends up 7-5.

That’s it. Not a faked injury, not a tactical MTO, no “beatdown” by McDonald, but also not just down to injury. No, it was both - first 2 sets were a clearly out of form Nadal getting outplayed by a confident MM and then hurting himself at the end of set 2.

Save yourself the effort and don’t bother with trolls who try to frame it as anything else.

 

[tennislove00]

People who make fun and talk **** about Nadal od Djokovic physical struggles are most likely bunch of out of shape people who don't even play sports or do much of physical acitivty, let alone professional tennis which is one of the most demanding sports.

 

[Bartelby]

I'm glad to see the back of Nadal. Trying to browbeat the umpire into starting the serve clock late to give him more time to towel off was not so humble!

 

[Fabresque]

He lost. He got outplayed. The end.

 

[Poisoned Slice]

Kralingen 8:32

 

[nov]

People are going to lie about this for the next few days… so if you didn’t watch the match, here’s what happened - don’t buy into all the BS.

- Nadal was physically fine the first two sets - tentative and subpar, a lot like the Draper match, but not hampered by injury. Timing and depth was off

- McDonald served incredibly well the first set and was playing genuinely good stuff up until 6-4, 5-3. Early ballstriking, confident net approaches, capitalizing on Rafa’s errors. Nadal was softballing and lacked confidence but not all due to himself - Mackie was definitely causing him problems

- At 6-4, 4-3 McDonald serving, Nadal tweaks something and takes off court MTO. Looked like a hip injury and he went off court for 10 minutes. Got painkillers and started playing again

- Nadal’s camp urged him to retire but he refused - just like Wimbledon QF vs Fritz.

- 3rd set was weird, Rafa clearly not moving well, not even attempting to return some serves, pace of the game goes to exhibition level. Rafa managed to hold with some good serves and low margin FHs. Again, similar to Fritz QF at Wimby. But clearly couldn’t move and had no threat on McDonald’s serve, ends up 7-5.

That’s it. Not a faked injury, not a tactical MTO, no “beatdown” by McDonald, but also not just down to injury. No, it was both - first 2 sets were a clearly out of form Nadal getting outplayed by a confident MM and then hurting himself at the end of set 2.

Save yourself the effort and don’t bother with trolls who try to frame it as anything else.

But Nadal only losses when hes injured, no?

 

[Backspin1183]

Kralingen 8:32

He's a messenger of truth.

 

[BeatlesFan]

Anyone who watched the match knows Rafa was legitimately injured. The trolls here don't watch the matches anyway. If ever an injury was obvious, tonight was the night.

Mery was even crying when he had his MTO.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/ten...ife-crying-Australian-Open-injury-tennis-news

 

[junior74]

Was saying it after R1; Rafa would have lost that match to half the draw and needed to up his level to go further here.

He got injured, but he also played on a too low level in both rounds.

McDonald played well.

 

[MichaelNadal]

Nadal was never going to win this AO in the form he was in. Let’s be happy for 2022

 

[MeatTornado]

MM's forehand was very impressive at times. It's not a big shot he can rip, but he kept placing it perfectly, just out of Nadal's reach. He was hitting it so flat, like it was just sneaking over the net.

Also did a great job of cutting off Nadal's forehands by stepping into his backhand, taking the ball early and send it back cross-court.

 

[Nadal - GOAT]

People are going to lie about this for the next few days… so if you didn’t watch the match, here’s what happened - don’t buy into all the BS.

- Nadal was physically fine the first two sets - tentative and subpar, a lot like the Draper match, but not hampered by injury. Timing and depth was off

- McDonald served incredibly well the first set and was playing genuinely good stuff up until 6-4, 5-3. Early ballstriking, confident net approaches, capitalizing on Rafa’s errors. Nadal was softballing and lacked confidence but not all due to himself - Mackie was definitely causing him problems

- At 6-4, 4-3 McDonald serving, Nadal tweaks something and takes off court MTO. Looked like a hip injury and he went off court for 10 minutes. Got painkillers and started playing again

- Nadal’s camp urged him to retire but he refused - just like Wimbledon QF vs Fritz.

- 3rd set was weird, Rafa clearly not moving well, not even attempting to return some serves, pace of the game goes to exhibition level. Rafa managed to hold with some good serves and low margin FHs. Again, similar to Fritz QF at Wimby. But clearly couldn’t move and had no threat on McDonald’s serve, ends up 7-5.

That’s it. Not a faked injury, not a tactical MTO, no “beatdown” by McDonald, but also not just down to injury. No, it was both - first 2 sets were a clearly out of form Nadal getting outplayed by a confident MM and then hurting himself at the end of set 2.

Save yourself the effort and don’t bother with trolls who try to frame it as anything else.

Agree with your points mostly. Though I would add that when McDonald was serving for the 2nd set at 5-4, Nadal didn't give his all in that game. That service game from MM was very breakable as he made errors and was not making his 1st serves. IMO by then Nadal knew the tournament was over for him and was semi tanking.

Again a well deserved win for MM. He was clearly the better player in the 1st set and Kudos to him.

 

[Biotic]

tl;dr: Usurper got usurped.

 

[BeatlesFan]

 

[No_Kwan_Do]

Laura Robson, who was sitting courtside, said that he pulled up again a few games from the end of the third set and was limping around a lot more afterwards indicating that he might have tweaked it again, which makes sense, because he went from practically useless to completely useless.

Not nice seeing him limp around. I'm not sure why Xisca was crying though. He was injured, he hadn't been shot.

Perhaps this was Rafa's last AO and she knew it.

 

[Nadal - GOAT]

Nadal was never going to win this AO in the form he was in. Let’s be happy for 2022

Yes.. And on to the FO now. Hope he skips the entire HC season and just focuses on clay.

 

[Fabresque]

Anyone who watched the match knows Rafa was legitimately injured. The trolls here don't watch the matches anyway. If ever an injury was obvious, tonight was the night.

Mery was even crying when he had his MTO.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/ten...ife-crying-Australian-Open-injury-tennis-news

Should be up for Oscar’s nomination with her husband.

 

[UnforcedTerror]

So you're telling me Rafa is still unbeaten while healthy? Good to know.

 

[Nadal - GOAT]

Laura Robson, who was sitting courtside, said that he pulled up again a few games from the end of the third set and was limping around a lot more afterwards indicating that he might have tweaked it again, which makes sense, because he went from practically useless to completely useless.

Not nice seeing him limp around. I'm not sure why Xisca was crying though. He was injured, he hadn't been shot. Perhaps this was Rafa's last AO.

I think the players and their family go through a lot in prep for a tournament. It has to be emotional when the player is not able to give his best. Also probably his last AO.

 

[MichaelNadal]

So you're telling me Rafa is still unbeaten while healthy? Good to know.

Big facts

 

[No_Kwan_Do]

I think the players and their family go through a lot in prep for a tournament. It has to be emotional when the player is not able to give his best. Also probably his last AO.

Fair enough.

 

[GoldenMasters]

People are going to lie about this for the next few days… so if you didn’t watch the match, here’s what happened - don’t buy into all the BS.

- Nadal was physically fine the first two sets - tentative and subpar, a lot like the Draper match, but not hampered by injury. Timing and depth was off

- McDonald served incredibly well the first set and was playing genuinely good stuff up until 6-4, 5-3. Early ballstriking, confident net approaches, capitalizing on Rafa’s errors. Nadal was softballing and lacked confidence but not all due to himself - Mackie was definitely causing him problems

- At 6-4, 4-3 McDonald serving, Nadal tweaks something and takes off court MTO. Looked like a hip injury and he went off court for 10 minutes. Got painkillers and started playing again

- Nadal’s camp urged him to retire but he refused - just like Wimbledon QF vs Fritz.

- 3rd set was weird, Rafa clearly not moving well, not even attempting to return some serves, pace of the game goes to exhibition level. Rafa managed to hold with some good serves and low margin FHs. Again, similar to Fritz QF at Wimby. But clearly couldn’t move and had no threat on McDonald’s serve, ends up 7-5.

That’s it. Not a faked injury, not a tactical MTO, no “beatdown” by McDonald, but also not just down to injury. No, it was both - first 2 sets were a clearly out of form Nadal getting outplayed by a confident MM and then hurting himself at the end of set 2.

Save yourself the effort and don’t bother with trolls who try to frame it as anything else.

I respect this post.

 

[Clay lover]

There was clearly an injury in the third, but Nadal would have lost anyway had he not been injured - I think this sums it up.

 

[Mustard]

So you're telling me Rafa is still unbeaten while healthy? Good to know.

Not many tennis players play 100% fit.

 

[TripleDouble33]

Laura Robson, who was sitting courtside, said that he pulled up again a few games from the end of the third set and was limping around a lot more afterwards indicating that he might have tweaked it again, which makes sense, because he went from practically useless to completely useless.

Not nice seeing him limp around. I'm not sure why Xisca was crying though. He was injured, he hadn't been shot.

Perhaps this was Rafa's last AO and she knew it.

I think it was the realization that there was her man's last appearance on Rod Laver.

 

[Crocodile]

The reality with the older players is that the more you get injured the less you can train and the less you can play and this can only take you so far. When an older player gets injured they take longer to recover despite the fact that they are better managers of injury ( usually ).

 

[Nadal - GOAT]

There was clearly an injury in the third, but Nadal would have lost anyway had he not been injured - I think this sums it up.

This I agree with. I think he would have lost to Draper had draper not suffered the cramps. Rafa's level has been very bad this year so far. He just didn't look ready for the physical battles.

 

[christo]

Maximus, Maximus . That was the vibe I got, almost like they would carry him off on his shield.
Like an ancient military general. Hail Caesar.

 

[HFK]

People are going to lie about this for the next few days… so if you didn’t watch the match, here’s what happened - don’t buy into all the BS.

- Nadal was physically fine the first two sets - tentative and subpar, a lot like the Draper match, but not hampered by injury. Timing and depth was off

- McDonald served incredibly well the first set and was playing genuinely good stuff up until 6-4, 5-3. Early ballstriking, confident net approaches, capitalizing on Rafa’s errors. Nadal was softballing and lacked confidence but not all due to himself - Mackie was definitely causing him problems

- At 6-4, 4-3 McDonald serving, Nadal tweaks something and takes off court MTO. Looked like a hip injury and he went off court for 10 minutes. Got painkillers and started playing again

- Nadal’s camp urged him to retire but he refused - just like Wimbledon QF vs Fritz.

- 3rd set was weird, Rafa clearly not moving well, not even attempting to return some serves, pace of the game goes to exhibition level. Rafa managed to hold with some good serves and low margin FHs. Again, similar to Fritz QF at Wimby. But clearly couldn’t move and had no threat on McDonald’s serve, ends up 7-5.

That’s it. Not a faked injury, not a tactical MTO, no “beatdown” by McDonald, but also not just down to injury. No, it was both - first 2 sets were a clearly out of form Nadal getting outplayed by a confident MM and then hurting himself at the end of set 2.

Save yourself the effort and don’t bother with trolls who try to frame it as anything else.

Good factual post.

 

[Kralingen]

So you're telling me Rafa is still unbeaten while healthy? Good to know.

The opposite, really…

 

[joshuayuan]

If the towels were sent on demand by drones, it would have been a complete sweep.






That means no more time wasting during towel rituals and Nadal would have been feeling completely out of his comfort zone as things would have moved too quickly between serves.

 

[Mustard]

This I agree with. I think he would have lost to Draper had draper not suffered the cramps. Rafa's level has been very bad this year so far. He just didn't look ready for the physical battles.

It's been bad since that abdominal injury at Wimbledon. He's at 5 wins and 8 losses since pulling out of Wimbledon before the semi final, and 3 of those wins were at the US Open.

 

[Nadal - GOAT]

It's been bad since that abdominal injury at Wimbledon. He's at 5 wins and 8 losses since pulling out of Wimbledon before the semi final, and 3 of those wins were at the US Open.

You are right. I think he just has too many miles on his body. Probably should only focus on clay now.

 

[joshuayuan]

People are going to lie about this for the next few days… so if you didn’t watch the match, here’s what happened - don’t buy into all the BS.

- Nadal was physically fine the first two sets - tentative and subpar, a lot like the Draper match, but not hampered by injury. Timing and depth was off

- McDonald served incredibly well the first set and was playing genuinely good stuff up until 6-4, 5-3. Early ballstriking, confident net approaches, capitalizing on Rafa’s errors. Nadal was softballing and lacked confidence but not all due to himself - Mackie was definitely causing him problems

- At 6-4, 4-3 McDonald serving, Nadal tweaks something and takes off court MTO. Looked like a hip injury and he went off court for 10 minutes. Got painkillers and started playing again

- Nadal’s camp urged him to retire but he refused - just like Wimbledon QF vs Fritz.

- 3rd set was weird, Rafa clearly not moving well, not even attempting to return some serves, pace of the game goes to exhibition level. Rafa managed to hold with some good serves and low margin FHs. Again, similar to Fritz QF at Wimby. But clearly couldn’t move and had no threat on McDonald’s serve, ends up 7-5.

That’s it. Not a faked injury, not a tactical MTO, no “beatdown” by McDonald, but also not just down to injury. No, it was both - first 2 sets were a clearly out of form Nadal getting outplayed by a confident MM and then hurting himself at the end of set 2.

Save yourself the effort and don’t bother with trolls who try to frame it as anything else.

And why do we have to believe you? Nadal said he is injured everyday. Even when he was warming himself up behind Müller in Wimbledon he managed to injure his own head.

 

[jm1980]

- 3rd set was weird, Rafa clearly not moving well, not even attempting to return some serves, pace of the game goes to exhibition level. Rafa managed to hold with some good serves and low margin FHs. Again, similar to Fritz QF at Wimby. But clearly couldn’t move and had no threat on McDonald’s serve, ends up 7-5.

It has to be said that McDonald's own level also dropped tremendously after Nadal's MTO

 

[jl809]

Another twist to add to the ****storm on this forum atm damn. Did not expect it at all

A healthy Nadal should not be about to go 2 sets down to Mackie McDonald, as well as the latter was playing. From what I can tell he was worse today than at any point since the Paul match.

He needs to play some 250s and 500s to get wins under the belt and ban all questions about retirement from his press conferences. Feel like concerns about that have almost been spoken into being by journalists recently

 

[ChrisJR3264]

People who make fun and talk **** about Nadal od Djokovic physical struggles are most likely bunch of out of shape people who don't even play sports or do much of physical acitivty, let alone professional tennis which is one of the most demanding sports.

I’m a fan of Novak and I’ll be the first to admit - when meddy trolled him for his hamstring injury - he was right to do so. Hamstrings aren’t just something you tweak then run around and play high level tennis with.

 

[DIMI_D]

People are going to lie about this for the next few days… so if you didn’t watch the match, here’s what happened - don’t buy into all the BS.

- Nadal was physically fine the first two sets - tentative and subpar, a lot like the Draper match, but not hampered by injury. Timing and depth was off

- McDonald served incredibly well the first set and was playing genuinely good stuff up until 6-4, 5-3. Early ballstriking, confident net approaches, capitalizing on Rafa’s errors. Nadal was softballing and lacked confidence but not all due to himself - Mackie was definitely causing him problems

- At 6-4, 4-3 McDonald serving, Nadal tweaks something and takes off court MTO. Looked like a hip injury and he went off court for 10 minutes. Got painkillers and started playing again

- Nadal’s camp urged him to retire but he refused - just like Wimbledon QF vs Fritz.

- 3rd set was weird, Rafa clearly not moving well, not even attempting to return some serves, pace of the game goes to exhibition level. Rafa managed to hold with some good serves and low margin FHs. Again, similar to Fritz QF at Wimby. But clearly couldn’t move and had no threat on McDonald’s serve, ends up 7-5.

That’s it. Not a faked injury, not a tactical MTO, no “beatdown” by McDonald, but also not just down to injury. No, it was both - first 2 sets were a clearly out of form Nadal getting outplayed by a confident MM and then hurting himself at the end of set 2.

Save yourself the effort and don’t bother with trolls who try to frame it as anything else.

Perfect analysis mate I couldn’t sum it up better. With everything in hindsight I think nadal should have retired after Wimbledon injury and before Cincinnati when he knew his serve wouldn’t come back. Painful to see him loosing to all these bums I thought even a hindered nadal would make the 3rd round and bought my tickets to melb and RLA etc now not seeing him. I did get that AO 22 final moment will stay with me forever, I thought he would be eliminated by 4th round or quarters but now it’s just frustrating watching him battling against low level mediocre players

 

[Unseeded Player]

I think it was the realization that there was her man's last appearance on Rod Laver.

Most probably.... AO and RG last year destroyed him..

 

[Sorry_to_tell_you_mate]

People are going to lie about this for the next few days… so if you didn’t watch the match, here’s what happened - don’t buy into all the BS.

- Nadal was physically fine the first two sets - tentative and subpar, a lot like the Draper match, but not hampered by injury. Timing and depth was off

- McDonald served incredibly well the first set and was playing genuinely good stuff up until 6-4, 5-3. Early ballstriking, confident net approaches, capitalizing on Rafa’s errors. Nadal was softballing and lacked confidence but not all due to himself - Mackie was definitely causing him problems

- At 6-4, 4-3 McDonald serving, Nadal tweaks something and takes off court MTO. Looked like a hip injury and he went off court for 10 minutes. Got painkillers and started playing again

- Nadal’s camp urged him to retire but he refused - just like Wimbledon QF vs Fritz.

- 3rd set was weird, Rafa clearly not moving well, not even attempting to return some serves, pace of the game goes to exhibition level. Rafa managed to hold with some good serves and low margin FHs. Again, similar to Fritz QF at Wimby. But clearly couldn’t move and had no threat on McDonald’s serve, ends up 7-5.

That’s it. Not a faked injury, not a tactical MTO, no “beatdown” by McDonald, but also not just down to injury. No, it was both - first 2 sets were a clearly out of form Nadal getting outplayed by a confident MM and then hurting himself at the end of set 2.

Save yourself the effort and don’t bother with trolls who try to frame it as anything else.

Nadal said after the match that he's been feeling some pain in the area for the last few days. So, a big NO to your conclusions.

 

[ChrisJR3264]

Now he can go back to Mallorca and get those “special treatments” and be good as new for the next tourney.

 

[Unseeded Player]

Now he can go back to Mallorca and get those “special treatments” and be good as new for the next tourney.

I have no doubt that he will be 100% ready for the RG... Which is maybe his last chance for a slam

 

[jl809]

Now he can go back to Mallorca and get those “special treatments” and be good as new for the next tourney.

Like he did before USO 22?

 

[Spencer Gore]

He was clearly injured from the start. Sad to see the greatest player of the first decade of the millennium suffer in that fashion.

 

[joekapa]

Anyone who watched the match knows Rafa was legitimately injured. The trolls here don't watch the matches anyway. If ever an injury was obvious, tonight was the night.

Mery was even crying when he had his MTO.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/ten...ife-crying-Australian-Open-injury-tennis-news

He wasn't injured for the first 1.5 - 2 sets. He was outplayed. 3rd set there were signs of injury. And that's that.

 

[dr325i]

one thing for sure...he'll be all ready for the clay season...and definitely not get injured there...unless...
Get well, Champ!

 

[Unseeded Player]

You support his PED use for recovery?
Think about how he gets these injuries - looks done. Then there’s a miracle when he comes home and looks like new til the next one that hampers him.
Rinse and repeat his entire career.
Usually a sign of steroid use.

Problem with the rules is that they allow the use of some things for the faster recovery, it kinda looks like legal doping. He knew that his style of play will have a big price in the 30's. To be honest, I am surprised that he is still on the tour.

 

[Bartelby]

Nadal may be going the way of Federer. He may have an irrecoverable injury.

 

[dr325i]

Nadal may be going the way of Federer. He may have an irrecoverable injury.

Hopefully not.
The clay season will tell

 

[Unseeded Player]

I posted a while back that I thought if Nadal had won his 22nd Slam that he should retire. In fact, now it seems it was the fairy tale ending something similar to Sampras in 2002 (although Sampras never officially retire until about a year later). I think the nagging foot injury and the numerous complications with age should make him consider retirement. If he loses the Slam race accept it. If he retired after Wimbledon it would've been 22 out of 65 slams higher than 33.33% and his overall winning pct was still the highest in the Open Era.

He will throw all the cards for the RG23.