Novak Djokovic reacts to Rafael Nadal’s Australian Open exit

For Rafael Nadal, 2009 isn’t walking through that door.

Nadal can at least take heart that the Australian Open has historically been his toughest Grand Slam tournament, with his only win coming against Roger Federer in 2009.

Questions will be asked about Rafa’s working relationship with uncle Toni and whether or not he can recover mentally to land a dream 10th French Open title at Roland Garros.

“If he’s on, like he was yesterday, he’s very tough to beat”.

“In terms of creating damage to the opponent with my forehand, I didn’t”, Nadal said after his first-round loss to Verdasco.

“Too many things go through your mind”.

‘There are many things they said about someone, ‘ said Verdasco, who lost the first set 24 times in his last 29 matches of last season.

“I played unbelievably in the fifth set”, Verdasco assured. “You know, because I don’t believe the players are allowed to be sponsored by betting companies, but the tournaments are”. Obviously it is tough, especially because is not like previous year that I arrived here playing bad and feeling not ready for it. “It keeps me focused”.

Just two days after stunning Rafael Nadal, Fernando Verdasco was a shock loser himself at the Australian Open.

As Murray progressed, fellow Brits Aljaz Bedene and Dan Evans fell at the first hurdle as they lost to seeded Steve Johnson and Feliciano Lopez respectively; Bedene going down 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 to the American, Evans losing 6-1, 6-0, 6-4 to the Spaniard.

Ivanovic was up a service break and leading 4-3 in the first set when medical personnel rushed to the woman’s aid in the upper level of the 15,000-seat stadium.

“I really don’t count the games”, she said after Thursday’s match.

“I’m very happy”, said Sela. I was like, please, I don’t want to lose.

“Sometimes if you do like what I did today, you put all the balls [out], it’s like, ‘This guy’s insane, ‘” Verdasco said. Halep showed some life, but Zhang broke her to take the set.

“It was hot out there”. I have been playing and practising great.

Elsewhere, other seeds in the women’s draw fared better.

True to script Hewitt – in his 20th and final Australian Open – extended his farewell tour at his home Grand Slam, with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 6-4 win.

Nadal suffered a major blow as he was knocked out in the opening round of the Australian Open at the hands of Fernando Verdasco 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 2-6.

The second seed controlled the clash throughout against an opponent he swept aside earlier in the month at the Hopman Cup. His forehand found angles on all sides of the court which had Nadal exasperated as the Spaniard lost in the first round of the Australian Open for the first time.

‘In the end we will know all that is out there and we will fight to change that. “You know, I was pretty pumped up before I went on”. The Brit defeated Alex Zverev comfortably in straight sets.

“But it’s only one day, only one match”.

“Kim will message my team if anything is going on during the matches”, Murray said.

Day four sees a spike up to $244, while fans can expect a meteoric rise as we progress to the women’s and men’s finals (starting at $379 and $765, respectively). Earlier in the week, Australian Open officials had christened Day 2 of the tournament “C’mon Day” in honour of what could have potentially been the final match of Hewitt’s career.

Elsewhere, there were also first-round wins for seeds John Isner, Milos Raonic, Bernard Tomic and Fabio Fognini.