That’s one of the biggest mysteries of the now-playing Australian Open. Imagine being a professional tennis player like Rafael Nadal. You have all your habits, but more than that, you have the habits of a professional tennis player, which implies having different rackets for every different game.
You can have a racket when you serve, another one when your return, and maybe another one for a special opponent. But suddenly, one of those rackets disappears and you can’t play how you wanted. That’s exactly what happened to the tennis superstar as you can see in the following video.
It’s not everyday: a Rafa Nadal’s racket missing. pic.twitter.com/qbvPUh4xem
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) January 16, 2023
Midway through the first set against his opponent of the day, Jack Draper, Nadal tried to explain to the empire that he cannot find his racket anymore. So where is the racket? What happened exactly? Well, that’s our investigation of the day. So let’s embark on the Mystery Machine with the whole crew to find out who stole Rafael Nadal’s racket.
A Specific Racket
First of all, let’s hear why Rafael Nadal exactly needs this racket. He tells the umpire: “I need the racquet back! It is this not one. I need the dampener and everything”. In this sentence, he refers to a small rubber that is placed between the strings to lessen the impact when tennis players hit shots.
So this means this racket is very important. The American player Jack Draper is known for his big serve and his very deep and hard-to-get shots. That’s why Nadal needed that specific racket to play his best tennis. But let’s go back to our investigation, who is responsible for the loss of this racket?
‘The ball boy took my racket’
Yes, you read the headline well, It’s the ball boy’s fault! But how is that possible? How a ball boy can take a racket of a professional tennis player like this without asking anyone? Well, normally, he doesn’t need to, because there are some codes in tennis, but with Rafael Nadal, the codes are not the same.
In reality, the ball boy has done his job and there was confusion. Rafael Nadal said he needed a stringer for one of his rackets, but because of his habits and the way he puts objects on his chair, it wasn’t totally clear which racket the ball boy needed to take. So the ball boy took the wrong racket and Rafael Nadal couldn’t have it back because someone was working on it at the time he was asking for it.
However, in the end, Rafael Nadal ended up winning the game in 4 sets, so it wasn’t a big deal. During the interview, he was smiling about the situation like he was during the game. He described it as a “funny situation” and said there’s “no problem at all”, It can happen. However, this funny event was the last one of the tournament for the player.
Nadal is out of the Australian Open
Unfortunately for him, at the time this article is written, Rafael Nadal has lost his second round against the American and former UCLA star player, Mackenzie McDonald, due to an injury. Rafael Nadal already had a tough time at the end of 2022, but this time, it happens very early in the tournament, and at the age of 36.
As you may know, his best friend, Roger Federer, already retired last year due to multiple injuries and of course, his age. The Swiss player was 40 years old when he played his last game and knew it was time to end his career.
And even though Rafael Nadal came back multiple times after people were saying it was his last year, this time, it seems to be the case.
Normally, when this type of situation occurs for him, he is just tired and starts losing games at the end of the tournament. After that, he may withdraw for some early tournaments in February/March to be ready for the French Open. That’s practically what he does every year. But this time, it is not the same, as his injury was already there in November, and already back very early in the season.
So, of course, let’s not be too dramatic, it wasn’t the last game Rafael Nadal and he will probably be able to play in the clay season. But maybe, this time, it is the final year we’re going to see the 22-times grand slam winner play on the tour. Only time will tell, but let’s hope the best for this legend.