The tennis tours have started with the United Cup, Adelaide, and Auckland. One question needs to be tackled on the podcast: what’s up, Rafa?
What’s up, Rafa?
Rafael Nadal is one of the favorites for the Australian Open 2023 title, but his start at the United Cup was slightly ominous. Two losses out of two matches and some obvious issues on the serve. Dennis Timar and I speculate about abdominal issues and more on the latest Tennisnerd podcast, which you can listen to below.
Can Rafa overcome his issues and win Grand Slam title 23? With Rafa Nadal, nothing is impossible to steal Adidas’ slogan. But he, for sure, hasn’t started in the best possible way.
Djokovic, on the other hand, looks fresh and hungry. He loves playing down under, and being allowed back into the country must feel great. At the time of writing, he is in the quarter-finals against Dennis Shapovalov in Adelaide 1.
Stuck in the starting blocks
Rafa is not alone in starting with a loss. Felix Auger-Aliassime was dumped out of the first round in Adelaide, which is somewhat surprising after his massive 2022 season. The same goes for Holger Rune. But you can’t read too much into first-round losses in the year’s first tournament.
Dennis actually thought Rune was an outsider for the Australian Open title, but in the end we will both probably chicken out with a Djokovic prediction. But we will get into our predictions next week on the podcast. I am really thankful that the interest around the podcast is growing and I would be happy if you subscribed on your podcasting platform of choice. There will be some interesting guests in the future and the more likes and listeners, the better the guests.
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