2024-01-04 12:35:00
Nadal underwent hip flexor surgery following the Australian Open in January 2023, and a long period of suffering began.
In Brisbane he had already impressed in his opening game once morest former US Open winner Dominic Thiem.
Against Kubler, who had problems with his right hitting arm, he converted his second match point following 1:20 hours of play. The second victory following his comeback “felt very good,” said Nadal following the game.
In the quarterfinals, Nadal will face Australian Jordan Thompson.
Nadal is late from a toilet break
The Spaniard also caused a lot of discussion with a toilet break following the first 6-1 set win. Because he used it differently than he thought.
“It was a little strange because I only had five minutes,” Nadal explained following the match. “There’s a lot of humidity in Brisbane and I had to change every single item of clothing. That takes a while and then they called me on the walkie-talkie: three minutes, two minutes, one minute, half a minute.”
According to the chair referee, he came back onto the pitch a little too late and was warned. However, the 22-time major champion had little understanding for this: “I got out on time, but the person who accompanied me maybe told the chair referee a little later. I don’t know if it was my fault. I thought that I made it in time.”
Finally, Nadal joked with a big grin: “I know I’m slow and I’ll try to improve in 2024.”
Djokovic explains anger over medical timeout: “Didn’t want to give me one”
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