By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, January 2, 2022
Rafael Nadal could collide with Nick Kyrgios or David Goffin in the top half of the Melbourne draw with Andy Murray, Reilly Opelka and Grigor Dimitrov looming.
Photo credit: Getty
Rafael Nadal has taken the sleeves off and put the blinders on ahead of his ATP Tour return.
The top seeded Spaniard will play his first Tour-level match in five months at the 250-level Melbourne Summer Set staged on the same Melbourne Park hard courts as the Australian Open. See the Melbourne Summer Set draw here.
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The 35-year-old Nadal, who has a first-round bye, will face either American Marcos Giron or a qualifier in his Melbourne opener next week. It will be Nadal’s first Tour-level match since he lost to Lloyd Harris in Washington, DC on August 5th.
Looking toned and fit and firing his forehand with familiar sting in practice this week, Nadal has not seemed sluggish after a bout with COVID-19. Nadal tested positive for Coronavirus after returning home to Spain from Abu Dhabi where he dropped a pair of exhibition losses to Andy Murray and Denis Shapovalov at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship.
Launching his quest for an 89th career title, Nadal could face a familiar face—either fourth-seeded David Goffin, sixth-seeded Ilya Ivashka or nemesis Nick Kyrgios—in the Melbourne semifinals.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion is gearing up for a run at a men’s record 21st Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, starting on January 17th.
While Nadal acclimates to the Melbourne Park court conditions, reigning AO champion Novak Djokovic is training in Spain hoping for a medical exemption that will enable him to compete for a record 21st Grand Slam crown and record-extending 10th AO championship.
Contenders are facing questions.
Wild card Kyrgios is aiming to snap a five-match losing streak and score his first win since Atlanta last July. The 93rd-ranked Kyrgios meets 88th-ranked lefty Alex Molcan, who reached the Belgrade 2 final on clay last May then played through qualifying to each the US Open third round.
The 39th-ranked Goffin ended 2021 on a six-match losing streak and is playing for his first hard-court win since Doha last March.
Ivashka, who took a set from Nadal on the red clay of Barcelona last year, will face the pressure of backing up a career-best 2021 season that saw him win his first ATP title in Winston-Salem and 14 of his last 18 matches on the season.
Former world No. 1 Murray took a wild card into the main draw where he faces Facundo Bagnis in round one with the winner advancing to a second-round showdown vs. third-seeded Grigor Dimitrov.
A pair of American seeds anchor the bottom half of the draw. Second-seeded Reilly Opelka has a first-round bye before playing a qualifier in his opener.
No. 8-seeded Mackenzie McDonald, who reached the round of 16 at the 2021 AO, takes on flat-hitting German Peter Gojowczyk in the first round.