By HOWARD FENDRICH
AP Tennis Writer
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A clearly hurting Rafael Nadal lost his second-round match at the Australian Open to Mackenzie McDonald 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 on Wednesday, abruptly ending his title defense and bid for a record-extending 23rd Grand Slam trophy.
It was not immediately clear what was bothering the 35-year-old Spaniard, but he pulled up awkwardly at the end of a point late in the second set against the 65th-ranked McDonald.
The No. 1-seeded Nadal was visited by a trainer on the sideline, then left the court for a medical timeout. Up in the stands, his wife wiped away tears. Nadal returned to play, but was physically compromised and not his usual chase-every-ball self.
This is Nadal’s earliest exit at any Grand Slam tournament since bowing out in the first round in Melbourne in 2016 against No. 45 Fernando Verdasco. That also made Verdasco the lowest-ranked player to defeat Nadal in Australia — until, of course, McDonald on Wednesday.
McDonald is a 27-year-old American who won NCAA championships in singles and doubles for UCLA in 2016. He has never been past the fourth round at a major tournament. In his lone previous matchup against Nadal, at the 2020 French Open, McDonald won a total of just four games in his lopsided loss.
Nadal won the Australian Open for the second time a year ago for his 21st major championship, then raised his total to 22 — the most for a man — at Roland Garros.
He is currently ranked No. 2 but was the top seed at Melbourne Park because No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz is sitting out the Australian Open with a bad leg.
Nadal has dealt with a series of health issues recently.
He needed pain-killing injections for his left foot on the way to winning the French Open last June, pulled out of Wimbledon last July before the semifinals because of a torn abdominal muscle and also dealt with a problem with rib cartilage in 2022.
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