Rafael Nadal vs Jack Draper Prediction & Betting Tips - ATP Australian Open

Prediction published on 14/01/2023, 11:45  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 14/01/2023 at 15:44 in Tennis Predictions

Rafael Nadal is the defending Australian Open and in the absence of Carlos Alcaraz, the top seed this year. The world number two begins the defence of his title with a tricky match against Britain's Jack Draper. The winner of this match will face either Brandon Nakashima or MacKenzie McDonald in the second round. Nadal hasn't seen his new year get off to a good start. He lost both of his United Cup matches losing in three sets to both Cameron Norrie and Alex de Minaur. Here's a stat for you, Nadal has lost four matches in his last two tournaments. 2022 ended with him losing two out of three matches played in the ATP Tour Finals. Overall, he has lost six of his last seven matches on the ATP Tour, the other being a win over Casper Ruud.  Nadal admits that he is "vulnerable" to a possible first round loss but also says that he didn't play that bad in his two losses this year. Only twice since 2003 has Nadal lost in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament. The most recent one was in Australia in 2016 when losing to Fernando Verdasco. Since then he's reached at least the quarter final in every Australian Open winning one title and being the runner-up on two occasions. 

Jack Draper is a rising star in the tennis world and ranked 40th at the time of writing this preview. His main target has to be to get into the top 32 and be seeded at future Grand Slam events. Achieving that will make first round draws a bit easier. He's already faced Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon first round and now he has Nadal to face. This year has seen him play two tournaments, both in Adelaide. The first saw him lose in the second round to Karen Khachanov. He got revenge on the Russian in the second Adelaide tournament but then lost to Kwon Soonwoo, who he'd beaten the previous week. He lacks experience in Grand Slams and that may count against him in this match. Draper is in the main draw of the Australian Open for the first time and he's only played in three other events. His best performance has been getting to the third round in last year's US Open when he had to retire against Khachanov.