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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Returning to tennis’ elite level has come a long way for Mackenzie McDonald. A victory over defending champion Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open showed how much the 27-year-old California native Mackenzie has changed at his McDonald’s. He was a college star at UCLA.
To understand McDonald’s journey, we return to the 2019 French Open. There he tore his hamstring tendon in his first-round doubles match his three games. The surgery for it left him unable to walk for several weeks and left McDonald’s with what he describes as a “huge scar”. .
McDonald’s return to the French Open in 2020 dropped him to No. 236 in the rankings, giving him his first opportunity to face Nadal. McDonald talked about having fun before that — and he went out and lost 6-1, 6-0, 6-3.
Fast forward to this week at Melbourne Park, and McDonald saw Wednesday’s rematch with 22-time Grand Slam champion Nadal in a very different light than his first meeting in Paris two-and-a-half years ago.
After a 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 win in the second round, McDonald said in an interview with the Associated Press, “Before, you couldn’t beat a guy like that. Or I believed I could.” Nadal was already well behind the scoreboard when he sought medical attention after it turned out to be a left hip flexor injury late in the second set.
“I believed in it more, and it showed. I felt more like a mission than a vacation,” said McDonald, who won the NCAA titles in singles and doubles in 2016. .
He has reached the fourth round of two major tournaments, Wimbledon in 2018 and Australian Open in 2021.
McDonald, currently ranked 65th, will at least try to get that far when he faces No. 31-seeded Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan in the third round on Court 3 in Melbourne on Friday afternoon. increase. Thursday).
McDonald is part of a group of Americans who reached the third round after many unexpected victories, including Jenson Brooksby, who beat second seed Casper Roode on Thursday. Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton, JJ Wolfe and Michael Momo.
Under the guidance of 2005 US Open semi-finalist Robbie Ginepri, McDonald used flat ground strokes to great effect on the slow hardcourts at Rod Laver Arena. No. 1 seed Nadal praised the American, saying he “played at a great level.”
McDonald is the latest American player to score a recent victory over Nadal, following Taylor Fritz at Indian Wells, Francis Tiafoe at the US Open and Paul at the Paris Masters.
McDonald said Tiafoe told him, “Let’s do it!” Ahead of Wednesday’s game, Paul offered “a good deal” of advice in a FaceTime chat the night before.
After taking the win, McDonald told people back home that he considered him “top” on his list of tennis achievements.
“Everybody is so proud of me and excited…but obviously there’s another match,” McDonald said.
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AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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