Nadal loses first two matches of a season for first time in his career

Rafael Nadal experienced something in 2023 that he never did before and that is losing first two official matches of the season.

Despite playing for seemingly twenty years Nadal never started the year with two consecutive losses but that happened in 2023. Playing for Spain at the United Cup Nadal lost to Cam Norrie in the first match and Alex de Minaur in the second match. He played fine but simply got beat by two very good players but some fans are already speculating whether Nadal is losing a step.

He ran out of fuel towards the end of the match both times losing the decisive third seed. Another similarity in both matches is that he won the first set but then again faltered as time went on. It's probably nothing to worry about but it's an interesting contrast towards last year when he started 20-0.

He didn't play any events before the Australian Open last year.