At 4:3, the 22-time Grand Slam champion stared blankly at his bench, where the racket he planned to play was supposed to be ready. But she was gone.
“The picker, the picker took my racket,” Nadal explained to his opponent what was happening. With a smile on his face, he told the umpire the same thing, who immediately picked up the phone and started looking for the picker with the stolen racket.
“They took the racket he was still using and wanted to take now. I hope they didn’t cut her any more,” laughed live commentator Mark Petsche.
Nadal was also smiling, but at the same time it was evident that this is not a small matter for him and the loss of a prepared racket means an unpleasant disruption of routine and concentration.
“My God, this is a pretty big mistake and Rafa knows it. He knew the hardness of the string in that racket and he had decided on the sequence of the match in which he wanted to use it,” added co-commentator John Fitzgerald.
“Maybe the rocket is already somewhere on the streets of Melbourne. But I’m sure he’ll get her back,” he added.
Nadal looked a little flustered, and after searching his bag for a while, finally picked out a spare racket. It is not excluded that the episode with the racket also affected the Spaniard’s performance in the second set, which he lost to the 21-year-old Briton 2:6.
However, the favored Nadal was able to return to his role and eventually beat his opponent, who was struggling with cramps, 7:5, 2:6, 6:4 and 6:1.
