Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal had to dig deep on Monday at the Australian Open to claw through his first-round match against Jack Draper. But for the defending champion it ...

I am happy that I was able to win against a great player this afternoon.” “When you break the abdominal, you start to protect yourself, putting the ball more to the left, trying to not do the movement, the full movement, with the abdominal.” But I think he is in the right position to have a very productive season. I am in a moment that I am more up and down. “I think it's only cramping that happened at the end to him. “To win against Jack, as I said before the tournament started, has been one of the toughest first rounds possible being seeded. “I needed a victory, so that's the main thing. A great future in front, I think. “But to win against Jack, I need to do things well. I think I did things well. The most important thing today is a victory against a tough opponent,” Nadal said. A win was a win.

Rafael Nadal was involved in a bizarre incident at the start of his Australian Open clash with Jack Draper.

"So the other thing that I said to myself was ‘okay, I know that’s going to happen because I need victories to avoid that'. "Well, if you put into perspective how we arrived here with a lot of injuries in the last six months, then coming back it hasn’t been easy with losses on the road, I don't think it was a bad match at all," he said. But he was delighted at being able to put those issues behind him with a solid win to start the Australian Open. And he cleared up the situation, admitting that it was just a mix-up in communication. He was ultimately unable to recover enough to challenge Nadal any further with the Spaniard going on to win in four sets. But there was confusion on the court when, during the changeover and the score 4-3 in Nadal's favour, he went back to his chair to see something was missing.

It was a slog, but defending Australian Open defending champion Rafael Nadal opened his account Down Under with a four-set win over a tiring Jack Draper on ...

"I played against one of the toughest opponents possible in the first round. Draper's former coach Justin Sherring told the Daily Telegraph: "We used to base a lot of our game development around Rafa. He took a long break to change his outfit and offered hope of a comeback with a break of the Nadal serve in the opening game of the fourth set but the Spaniard was at last playing a little better and he hit straight back.

Nadal began his Australian Open defence with a 7-5 2-6 6-4 6-1 victory over Draper in three hours and 40 minutes.

His forehand had lost its intensity and accuracy - there were 14 unforced errors in the second set alone - and as Draper held on to his advantage to level, it was indeed turning out to be the horror draw many had feared. There wasn’t much to separate them in the opening set, which also saw Nadal produce his best level of the match. As for Draper, when he emerged onto the Rod Laver Arena to face his idol and the defending Australian Open champion, the 21-year-old would have been allowed a moment to soak in how far he had come. This was the Spaniard’s first win of the year, following a run of six defeats in seven stretching back to last year. Draper more than held his own in the opener but Nadal’s level dropped dramatically in the second as the mistakes mounted. As the 21-year-old Draper took the second set to level those early fears were beginning to turn into real concern, but in the hot afternoon sun in Melbourne the Briton’s chances were starting to melt away.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal drops a set but prevails in a battle of fitness against British hope Jack Draper to reach the second round of the Australian ...

"To go toe-to-toe with him on a big court like that is special. Draper, who recently hired a fitness coach in Croatian Dejan Vojnovic, said: "I felt at the beginning of the third that my tennis was right there. The second set, I sort of calmed down and started playing really well. Speaking on court afterwards, Nadal said: "If we put in perspective all the situations I went through the last six months, it has been a very positive start. I played against one of the toughest opponents possible in the first round. "After last year, I was really excited about doing a good pre-season.