Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal is known for his idiosyncrasies and rituals before and during tennis matches so when a ballboy accidentally removed his playing racket from ...

[Australian Open](https://www.tennis365.com/category/australian-open/) [Tennis News](https://www.tennis365.com/category/tennis-news/) I’m here to just give myself a chance. “It’s a big challenge for me at the beginning to start the tournament. The racket didn’t make an appearance in time for the next game as Nadal had to use a different one and he went on to win the opening set 7-5. Channel Nine commentator John Fitzgerald joked “goodness me, that’s a big mistake and he knows.

Famously superstitious tennis champion Rafa Nadal has halted play in his opening match of the Australian Open after a ball boy made off with his tennis ...

I think I am humble enough to accept that situation and just work with what I have today. I need to build again this confidence with myself with victories. 'I need to build again all this momentum. 'Goodness me, that's a big mistake and he knows. Fellow commentator John Fitzgerald saw the serious side of it, though. As his search got more and more frantic Nadal realised that the ball boy had taken his racquet during the break between sets

There was a comical and almost farcical moment during Rafael Nadal's opening match against Britain's Jack Draper at the Australian Open on Monday.

"He plays with a vibration dampener and that has been taken with the current racquet he was playing with. He must have a spare one, surely! "I need the racquet back! I need the dampener and everything. It all amounted to some entertaining exchanges on Rod Laver Arena as he attempted to get it back. Australian Open

Top-seeded Nadal recovered from a second-set wobble to defeat the 38th-ranked Briton 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 at Rod Laver Arena.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal was far from his best as he produced an error-laden performance during his opening-round victory over Jack Draper at the ...

[Australian Open](https://www.tennis365.com/category/australian-open/) Draper’s former coach Justin Sherring told the Daily Telegraph: “We used to base a lot of our game development around Rafa.

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: Jack Draper made a painful exit from the Australian Open after the exertion of trying to take down Rafael Nadal proved too much.

We are going to see him playing a lot of years here having great results.' Draper struggled with cramp, playing in the longest and most physical match of his life so far - Nadal came through in four sets as Draper struggled with cramp in the match

Rafael Nadal has explained to Eurosport's Barbara Schett exactly what happened when a ball kid took his racquet away to the stringer when he needed it.

"Winning against Jack [Draper], I needed to do things well, of course. "When you put everything into perspective, I had a very tricky opponent in the first round. he told Schett with a smile. It all amounted to some entertaining exchanges on Rod Laver Arena as he attempted to get it back. "I need to accept that, to stay with the right attitude, and it happened in the second [set, which Draper won] and it happened in the fourth at the beginning, but that’s part of the business now." Australian Open

Rafael Nadal had to dig deep on Monday at the Australian Open to claw through his first-round match against Jack Draper. But for the defending champion it ...

I am happy that I was able to win against a great player this afternoon.” “When you break the abdominal, you start to protect yourself, putting the ball more to the left, trying to not do the movement, the full movement, with the abdominal.” But I think he is in the right position to have a very productive season. I am in a moment that I am more up and down. “I think it's only cramping that happened at the end to him. “To win against Jack, as I said before the tournament started, has been one of the toughest first rounds possible being seeded. “I needed a victory, so that's the main thing. A great future in front, I think. “But to win against Jack, I need to do things well. I think I did things well. The most important thing today is a victory against a tough opponent,” Nadal said. A win was a win.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal drops a set but prevails in a battle of fitness against British hope Jack Draper to reach the second round of the Australian ...

"To go toe-to-toe with him on a big court like that is special. Draper, who recently hired a fitness coach in Croatian Dejan Vojnovic, said: "I felt at the beginning of the third that my tennis was right there. The second set, I sort of calmed down and started playing really well. Speaking on court afterwards, Nadal said: "If we put in perspective all the situations I went through the last six months, it has been a very positive start. I played against one of the toughest opponents possible in the first round. "After last year, I was really excited about doing a good pre-season.

Watch the bizarre moment Rafael Nadal can't find his favourite racquet during his Australian Open opening match against Jack Draper.

Watch the bizarre moment Rafael Nadal can't find his favourite racquet during his Australian Open opening match against Jack Draper. Watch bizarre moment Rafael Nadal can't find his favourite racquet during Australian Open opening match

Midway through the first set against Britain's Jack Draper, the 22-time grand slam winner stood with his arms spread as explained to the umpire that he was ...

“The combination of lights.” “Unfortunately that passed, so we need to keep working. I need the dampener and everything,” added the Spaniard, referring to the small rubber device which tennis players place between the strings to lessen the impact when they hit shots. “I need the racquet back! “Normally, I have the number of the rackets under control so I said I need the stringer, but I need the stringer for the other racket,” Nadal explained, per Eurosport. After the match, Nadal described the racket snafu as a “funny situation.”

Rafael Nadal considered his first-round victory over Jack Draper at the Australian Open a step in the right direction even if he did not play anywhere near ...

I think I did things well. It was not perfect. While Nadal will certainly have to play much better if he is to have a chance of retaining the trophy he won so brilliantly 12 months ago, he is at least in the draw.