After an anxious wait during Saturday’s draw ceremony at the Brisbane International, Rafael Nadal will now have to wait a little longer to know his first-round opponent.
The weekend’s draw was inconclusive after Nadal, who is in the tournament as a wild card entrant, was drawn to face a qualifier or lucky loser in his first singles match since he hobbled out of the 2023 Australian Open with a damaged hip.
The second and final round of qualifying will be completed on Sunday, December 31st, and a couple of main draw matches will occur on the same day. Then, the qualifiers will placed into the main draw, one of whom will take on the 22-time Grand Slam champion.
The qualifying field is very competitive and features a former Grand Slam champion, Dominic Thiem. Nadal will be paying close attention to Sunday to know the identity of his first-round opponent. A meeting against the Austrian enforcer is still a viable option.
Thiem stormed back to win his opening qualifying match against James McCabe in three sets. He trailed 2-6, 3-5, 0-40 but turned the match on its head to avoid becoming the first high-profile casualty of the new season.
The likes of Diego Schwartzman and Maxime Cressy, who have a history of pushing Nadal very close in the past, are also possible candidates to face him again. But they’ll need to qualify for the main draw before being paired with an opponent.
Unlike in singles, Nadal has learned his doubles draw, where he is teaming up with compatriot Marc Lopez and will take on the Australian duo of Max Purcell and Jordan Thomspon. It will be Nadal’s first match since January 2023 and his first in doubles since Roger Federer’s farewell match at the Laver Cup.
Because of his low-ranking status, the 37-year-old is in danger of facing a Top 32 seed at the 2024 Australian Open, which is set for a historic Sunday start in January.
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