Rafael Nadal injury 'horrible to see' - Tim Henman and Mats Wilander bemoan 'nightmare' at Australian Open

Updated 18/01/2023 at 09:15 GMT

Rafael Nadal had his 2023 Australian Open dreams crushed on Wednesday as he suffered a shock hip injury at a crucial point of his second-round encounter with American Mackenzie McDonald. Nadal suddenly pulled up in agony behind the baseline at a seemingly innocuous point and was unable to recover, even after painkillers, as he slumped to a hugely disappointing defeat.

'It is very sad' - Nadal injury reaction from Henman and Wilander at Australian Open

Eurosport experts Tim Henman and Mats Wilander have given their emotive responses to the heartbreaking injury Rafael Nadal suffered in his second-round defeat to Mackenzie McDonald at the Australian Open on Wednesday.

The Spaniard was trailing 6-4 5-3 when he suddenly pulled up with his injury. He immediately called on the trainer at the end of McDonald’s service game before leaving the court for a medical timeout. He eventually returned to the court and played out the second set, but the 36-year-old was ultimately not fit enough to force a fourth set. The world No. 65 came through to win the match in straight sets, 6-4 6-4 7-5.

It was a nightmare day for Nadal, who had been hoping to defend his title from last year at Melbourne Park and also extend his record tally of 22 Grand Slam singles titles at the first Grand Slam of the new season.

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Henman said it was "horrible to see" the tennis legend suffer the injury at such a crucial stage in the match, but he also paid tribute to the efforts of the unfancied McDonald, who had been winning the match even prior to his opponent's physical setback.

“Mackenzie McDonald deserves a lot of credit because he was up on that baseline and the one dictating, which was kind of the outcome," Henman said on Eurosport's coverage of the Australian Open.

"It was horrible to see – we’ve seen Nadal deal with so many injuries during his career, but on this stage after his performance 12 months ago, to suddenly pull up.

"When he pulled up that sharply we thought the writing was on the wall, but McDonald still had to keep his focus, and at the end of the day, he deserved his victory.

“It is one of those nightmare injuries. The game is physical for everyone and movement is important, but when you get that sharp pain, it’s not good news because you think you’ve pulled something.

"We were watching and thinking this is not looking good. It’s a sad sight.”

The 'very concerning' moment Nadal pulls up injured in second set

For Wilander, it was wretched luck that left the Spaniard with no opportunity to win the match, but McDonald certainly earned the victory too with his persistent and hard-working play.

“There’s a lot of bad luck involved when you get injured, but you have to look at what happened and Rafa got pushed out to his forehand corner a little too much because of Mackenzie’s inside-out forehand," Wilander said on Eurosport.

"Rafa has to run for it, and eventually, he gets hurt so in my eyes it’s a technical knockout, probably because we’re watching a man who is 36 years old and hasn’t played enough matches, but it’s down to a lot of bad luck, obviously.

“No one got a hip flexor [injury] in the 80s as the game wasn’t quick enough. There were times when you ran 100 per cent for something, but the steps in between shots were never explosive enough to hurt yourself.

"The game today is so different and it can happen at any time. It’s so much faster and you need to push off immediately, and there is a lot of luck involved.”