What he insists is not on his mind is the number 20 — as in Roger Federer's record 20 Grand Slam singles titles, which Nadal would equal by claiming the trophy at Melbourne Park.
Roger Federer plays his second-round match at Melbourne Park and, according to his line of thinking, the first few matches he plays in a Grand Slam tournament are as important as the ones at the pointy end.
Might this have been her last trip to the Australian Open, a tournament she won in 2008 as part of a career Grand Slam?
Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova faced a first-round defeat to Croatia's Donna Vekic.
India's top-ranked tennis player Prajnesh Gunneswaran missed out on a clash with Novak Djokovic after he was knocked out in the opening round of Australian Open.
Top-ranked Ash Barty lost the first set of her first-round match at the Australian Open, where she's aiming to be the first homegrown winner in more than 40 years, before recovering to beat Leisa Tsurenko 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.
Roger Federer defeated Steve Johnson 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 while defending champion Novak Djokovic went past Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6, 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 in the first round of Australian Open.
Nadal plays his first-round match against Hugo Dellien. Chances are Nadal won't have too many tough moments with Dellien, whose highest ranking has been 74 and who has never gone past the second round in four previous Grand Slams
Nine matches were suspended in progress in the afternoon on smaller courts and will resume Tuesday, while 23 others never got started Monday at all.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran will take on Japan's Tatsuma Ito in the first round of the Australian Open.
Just like at the All England Club, the youngest woman in the field got the better of the oldest woman in the field, with Gauff beating Williams 7-6 (5), 6-3 on Monday.
Entering the Australian Open, scheduled to begin Monday in Melbourne (Sunday EST), Federer leads the list with 20 majors, followed by Nadal with 19, then Djokovic with 16.
The 38-year-old Williams had lost her previous five finals, including four at Slams -- at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2018 and 2019.
Djokovic, 32, already owns four major titles since he turned 30, the same number as Federer. Only one man has won more often at that stage of his career in the professional era: Nadal, 33, has five such championships.
Federer and Nadal both said they marched themselves down to the tournament referee's office to understand what was going on when local news reports were saying people should stay indoors, yet qualifying rounds were taking place
The French Open champion had reached finals in Australia before, finishing runner-up twice at the Sydney International after losses to Angelique Kerber in 2018 and to Petra Kvitova last year.
The Indian left-hander had lost the final qualifying round to Latvia's Ernests Gulbis in straight sets but was fortunate to make the main draw as one of the direct entrants withdrew from the tournament.
With the start of a new decade, will the story remain the same or will 2020 witness a new grand slam winner at Melbourne Park?
On Tuesday, one player collapsed to her knees while coughing heavily; another sought medical attention because he was having trouble breathing.
The 2014 Wimbledon runner-up, once as high as No. 5 in the rankings, has had a long slide down to No. 211.
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