Rafael Nadal received the battle of the southpaws towards Jack Draper within the Australian Open 2023 males’s singles Round 1 sport on Monday.
The prime seed eradicated the younger Brit with set scores of 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, and 6-1 after a greater than three-hour-long match.
“I’m super happy to be back here in Australia one more time,” stated the Spaniard.
“I don’t know. It’s like my 19th season on the professional tour. I’m very excited about this new beginning… The last couple of months haven’t been easy for me, but hopefully, this victory will help me.”
Draper, 21, stated, “(It was a) real honor to play against him, someone I’ve idolized growing up, to go toe-to-toe with him on a big court like that is special.”
The reigning males’s singles champion Nadal is a 22 Grand Slam males’s singles title winner.
The 36-year-old Spanish legend bagged Australian Open twice, in 2009 and 2022.
