Rafa Devastated In Brisbane By Thompson Loss

Rafael Nadal played very well in his QF match vs Jordan Thompson in Brisbane, well enough to earn two match points. But somehow Nadal squandered the victory 75 67 46 to the veteran Australian ranked 55.

“I’m tired, or course, sad in this moment because I had plenty of opportunities,” Nadal said after departing what was his first tournament since the 2023 Aussie Open (loss to McDonald). “But I think he played a good match. For me, even [though] that was not the best match, I had a lot of opportunities to win it, so… That’s it, I need to accept all this kind of stuff. After a year, that’s normal that things happen. As I say every day: Every day is a different story, and things are difficult after such a long time. Today the opponent played well, made me play one more ball. I didn’t play bad, but I was just one ball away.”

Nadal seemed very “sad” and despondent after losing, more so than I can recall ever seeing Djokovic after any of his Grand Slam final defeats. To say Nadal was devastated by this loss would not be inaccurate. The 37 year old’s mood and tone at the press conference indicated he was blindsided and shocked by losing to Thompson. This was the kind of match he finished off hundreds of times earlier in his two decade long illustrious career.

Everything was going Nadal’s way for two sets but Thompson kept getting balls back and saved the match points and forced the third set. Nadal tried an injury timeout and left the court in the final set – one of his tricks to stall and ice the opponent but the scheme failed to disconcert Thompson.

Match point was about a 50 ball rally, including two car horns blasting at separate moments during the slugfest which finally ended when Nadal belted a backhand about two inches long.

After the match, Rafa downplayed the injury – or phantom injury. “For sure it’s not the same like last year at all, because when it happened last year, I felt something drastic immediately,” Nadal told the media. “Today I didn’t feel anything. The only problem is because the place is the same, you are a little bit more scared than usual. In ideal world, it’s just the muscle supercharged after a few days of effort and a very tough match. That will be the ideal thing, something that we know that can happen today. That is why I’m talking all the time and my goal is to try to be competitive in a few months. If that [pain] is not important, it’s a very positive week.”

Rafal also said he’s not certain if he will play the Australian Open which commences in nine days. Which is surprising because he played very well for just his third match in over a year. Rafa’s lack of self confidence suggests this was a devastating loss and he fully expected his form and level were sufficient to beat a world no. 55. He may know he’s simply not able to play much better than he showed today – which would explain his sadness.

Brisbane · Jordan Thompson · Rafael Nadal

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