Maria Francisca Perello, Rafael Nadal’s wife, was clearly overcome with emotion as the defending champion battled an injury during the Australian Open 2023 match.
On Wednesday, defending champion Rafael Nadal suffered a devastating defeat to World No. 65 Mackenzie Macdonald at the Australian Open 2023.
Despite the fact that Nadal appeared to be suffering from a leg or back injury. For the majority of the match’s second half, the 22-time Grand Slam champion continued to fight.
However, he was defeated 4-6 because it was insufficient. 4-5. 5-7. Maria Francisca Perello burst into tears when Nadal was forced to leave the court to treat his injuries because he was clearly uncomfortable.
During the opening set, Nadal appeared out of control as he struggled to score points on his first serve against a determined Macdonald.
He made a lot of unforced mistakes in the first set, losing service games. At crucial points to lose the first two sets. He did show some fight in the third set of the match as the injury got worse, but it was too late for him.
In the post-match interview, Macdonald praised the defending champion of the Australian Open, calling Nadal an “incredible champion.”
The 27-year-old said that despite the injury. Nadal didn’t give up and even talked about the last time they played, when Nadal had just won four games.
“He’s an incredible champion, he’s never going to give up regardless of the situation,” Macdonald stated during the on-court interview. “Even closing it out against a top guy like that is always tough.”
“He kind of got me out of that with what he was doing. I was trying so hard to stay focused on what I was doing. However, “I kind of just kept focusing on myself and got through,” he continued following the encounter.