Australia Needs To Beat Greece Tomorrow To Stay In ATP Cup

Tanya Simon

February 4, 2021

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal pulled out of Spain's opening ATP Cup tie in Melbourne on Tuesday (Feb 2) with a lower back problem, with less than a week left for the Australian Open.

In a brief statement, the 34-year-old said: "Hi all, we have decided with Team Spain and my team to not play today the first match of the ATP Cup here in Melbourne since I have a stiff lower back". Hopefully, I'll be better for Thursday.

Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal on Tuesday announced that he would not be participating in the ATP Cup match against Alex de Minaur and Australia.

Nadal's late scratching caused a reshuffle but any advantage the hosts thought they may have dissapeared when John Millman fell to Pablo Carreno-Busta in straight sets, 6-2 6-2.

Nadal played an exhibition match in Adelaide on Friday, beating Austrian world number three Dominic Thiem 7-5 6-4.

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Similarly the midfield should remain unchanged from the Manchester United game with Partey and Xhaka starting in a double pivot. I looked at seven different angles and I can not see any contact there. "Of course it changed the game".

Nadal and Spain reached the final of the first edition of the tournament previous year, finishing runners-up to the Serbian team featuring Novak Djokovic. I thought we played on a very high level, so I'm really pleased with how I've started the season.

Earlier in the day, world No. 1 Serbian Novak Djokovic took to the court twice in his country's tie with Canada, defeating Denis Shapovalov 7-5, 7-5, before pairing up with Filip Krajinovic to beat Shapovalov again, along with Milos Raonic in the doubles, 7-5, 7-6 (4).

Nadal has won the Australian Open just once, back in 2009, but has been defeated in the final four times since then.

Showman Nick Kyrgios, meanwhile, pulled victory "out of a hat" in his first match for a year, rallying from a set down to get his Australian Open preparations off to a winning start.