Rafael Nadal loses his favorite racket in win by Americans Gauff, Tiafoe and Pegula advance

The Australian Open, which began Monday, officially launched the 2023 tennis season. For long-time tennis veterans such as Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, it’s business as usual. First-timers like Ben Shelton can enjoy the entire big tennis carnival for the first time.

Even the most experienced tennis players can experience career firsts. Rafael Nadal, the defending champion and No. Rafael Nadal was the champion and No.1 seed.

During a break in the middle of the first set, Nadal realized that the ball boy had taken the wrong racket to the stringer — and considering it was his favorite and the one he’d been using, it was the Really Wrong racket Nadal tried to have someone take it back to Nadal, but he ended up choosing another person and apologizing.

Although it was an odd few minutes, Nadal is a pro. He didn’t let the loss of his favourite racket bother him. He beat Draper 7-5.

What did the Americans do differently?

It was a fantastic start for the Americans. Ten of the 15 players who participated on Monday won their matches. The remaining three will move on to Round 2: Jessica Pegula, Frances Tiafoe and Coco Gauff.

• No. 3 Jessica Pegula def. Jaqueline Cristian 6-0, 6-1

• No. 7 Coco Gauff def. Katerina Siniakova 6-1, 6-4

• No. 10 Madison Keys def. Anna Blinkova 6-4, 3-6, 6-2

• No. 13 Danielle Collins def. Anna Kalinskaya 7-5, 5-7, 6-4

• No. 16 Frances Tiafoe def. Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 6-3, 6(5)-7, 7-6(6)

• No, 29 Sebastian Korda def. Cristian Garin 6-6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2

• Bernarda Pera def. Moyuka Uchijima 2-6, 6-3, 6-1

• Mackenzie McDonald def. Brandon Nakashima 7-6(5), 7-6(1) 1-6, 1-6, 6(10)-7, 6-4

• Catherine McNally def. Laura Pigossi 7-5, 6-1

• Christopher Eubanks def. Soonwookwon 6-3.

Unfortunately, Marcos Giron and Sofia Kenin lost to Amanda Anisimova and Coco Vandeweghe and were eliminated from the tournament.

Other results

Nearly all the seeded players who took to the court Monday won and advanced into Round 2.

• The women’s No.1 took almost two hours to win. 1 Iga Swiatek to defeat Jule Niemeier, despite Swiatek winning in straight sets. Niemeier put up a strong fight, pushing Swiatek beyond her comfort zone but couldn’t defeat the tournament favorite.

• No. 6 Felix Auger–Aliassime defeated Vasek pospisil from Canada in a hard-fought four-hour match. It included four sets and two tiebreaks.

• No. 7 Daniil Medvedev completely defeated American Marcos Giron within 96 minutes. Giron won just three of the matches.

• The “Past Grand Slam winners Trying to Rebuild their Careers” category saw 2021 US Open champ Emma Raducanu easily defeat Tamara Korpatsch, while 2019 US Open champ Bianca Andreescu was comfortably defeated by No. 25 Marie Bouzkova.

Other winners include Stefanos Tsitsipas (Mari Sakkari), Hubert Hurkacz Jannik Sinner and Cam Norrie.

Notable problems

It was mostly chalk on Day 1. The seeded player won in all but three matches.

• No. No.17 Lorenzo Musetti was defeated by Lloyd Harris in a five set thriller that also included a tiebreak.

• No. 25 Marie Bouzkova lost to former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu in two sets.

• No. 28 Amanda Anisimova lost against Marta Kostyuk.

What to see on Day 2

Novak Djokovic will play in his first match at the Australian Open for two years. But there are many other highlights on Day 2. Note: Day sessions are from 7:00pm EST through 3:00am ET, while night sessions will begin at 3:00am. All matches are available on ESPN+.

• No. No. 4 Novak Djokovic will take on Roberto Carballes Baena in the evening session. This is the final match at Rod Laver Arena Day 2.

• American Taylor Fritz will play Nikoloz Bashvili during the afternoon session.

• No. Tamara Zidansek and 2 Ons Jabeur will be facing each other in the first evening match at Rod Laver Arena.

• Men’s No. 2 Casper Ruud, Tomas Machac will be playing during the evening session.

• Andy Murray, a much-loved Scotsman, will be No. 13 Matteo Berrettini.

• A number of Americans will participate in Day 2. Here’s the complete list (minus Fritz).

  • Sloane Stephens

  • Ben Shelton

  • Taylor Townsend

  • Shelby Rogers

  • Alison Riske Amritraj

  • Brandon Holt

  • Katie Volynets

  • Tommy Paul

  • Jenson Brooksby

  • Maxime Cressy

  • Denis Kudla

  • Elizabeth Mandlik

  • Claire Liu

  • Madison Brengle

  • Lauren Davis

  • John Isner

The full schedule can be viewed here.