Australian Open 2023 LIVE updates: Nick Kyrgios withdraws from competition; Rafael Nadal, Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas in action on day one

Rafael Nadal has won the first set in his round one match by breaking Briton Jack Draper’s serve with a classic Nadal topspin-heavy forehand winner.

Nadal got the crucial solitary break in the 12th game to clinch the set, and he is on top in winners (15-10) while committing fewer unforced errors (10-11).The 22-time grand slam champion is also dominating serve, with a superior percentage of points won on first serve (82-73) and second serve (88-64).

Nadal is the top seed here following the withdrawal of US Open champion and world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz.

His opponent Draper was two years old when Nadal played his first Australian Open in 2004.

This is Draper’s first appearance at an Australian Open. He made the third round in New York last year, defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets.

Midway through the set, Nadal was bamboozled by ballkids removing his racquet between points. Take a look.

Here’s the big moves so far on the first day of the Australian Open.

• Australian wildcard Olivia Gadecki beat Russian qualifier Polina Kudermetova 7-5, 6-1. Gadecki will play Marta Kostyuk, who eliminated 28th seed Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 6-4, on Wednesday.
• Another local wildcard hopeful, Talia Gibson, went down in straight sets to Frenchwoman Clara Burel, 6-3, 6-4.
• Third seed Jessica Pegula, sixth seed Maria Sakkari, seventh seed Coco Gauff and 15th seed Petra Kvitova all progressed to the women’s second round with straight-set wins.
• The American Ash Barty beat last year to claim the women’s title, Danielle Collins, dispatched Anna Kalinskaya 7-5, 5-7, 6-4. She’s face world No. 133 Karolina Muchova in the second round.
• In the men’s tournament, tenth seed Hubert Hurkacz, 15th seed Jannik Sinner and 31st seed Yoshihito Nishioka all progressed in straight sets.
• Sebastian Korda, who earned a championship point against Novak Djokovic at the Adelaide International before the Serbian saved the match, won in four sets against Cristian Garin.

Australian wildcard Jason Kubler has just stepped on court at John Cain Arena for his first round clash against Sebastian Baez.

Jason Kubler will be the next Australian on court, in his match against Argentinian Sebastian Baez.

The 29-year-old Queenslander has had a career beset by knee problems, but starts this Open with his highest career ranking, at No.86. He won both his matches at the United Cup in Sydney, where he got the call-up after the withdrawal of Nick Kyrgios.

Also up shortly is Australian veteran John Millman, the 33-year-old appearing courtesy of a wildcard. Millman famously beat Roger Federer in the fourth round of the 2018 US Open. Today he faces another Swiss, Marc-Andrea Huesler, a left-hander.

Both matches are due to begin around 3.30pm.

Perth 18-year-old Talia Gibson has failed to follow fellow Aussie wildcard Olivia Gadecki into the second round. Former junior world No. 1 Clara Burel knocked Gibson out of the tournament 6-3, 6-4.

Gibson clinched a break point in each set but the Frenchwoman fought back hard to beat the Aussie newcomer in straight sets.

On Kia Arena, American 13th seed Danielle Collins just persisted in three sets over Russian Anna Kalinskaya. Collins, last year’s finalist, closed the match 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 despite taking an early medical timeout to have her left knee strapped.

Top seed Rafael Nadal is preparing to play his first match against world No. 38 Jack Draper, a 21-year-old from the UK on court at Rod Laver Arena.

Edwina Swierc, 34, of Brighton East, brought her three young children by train to the tennis, the youngest in a pram. She said the event made for a fun school holiday day out with lots to do for her boys — Teddy, 7, Josh, 5, and Zac, 1.

“It’s a bit of a juggle but I think it’s worth it. They have fun. It’s good memories for them,” Swierc said.

“It gets them exposed to a big sporting event and people from different countries.”

She said keeping them moving and entertained was the key, as was keeping them fed. She had planned well for food, bringing most of their lunch and snacks from home – fruit, vegetables, muesli and sandwiches – although she would treat them to ice-creams.

Swierc’s friend, Erin Kurts, 42, of Cheltenham, brought her kids Lyla, 9, and Ashton, 7, and watched Lyla, who plays tennis, play in a Hot Shots kids’ workshop on court 16.

“She was very excited by also nervous,” Kurts said Lyla told how she had met up with some fellow tennis students from Sandringham Tennis Club. “We’ve never been and my coach got to bring ten kids here,” she said.

Italian 15th seed Jannik Sinner blasted through his first round against British player Kyle Edmund, closing the match 6-4, 6-0, 6-2.

World No. 7 Coco Gauff will play the UK’s Emma Raducanu on Wednesday after winning her first-round game against world doubles No. 1 Kateřina Siniaková.

Young Aussie sensation Talia Gibson has lost the first set to Clara Burel and she’s down a break point in the second set.

Among the crowd streaming in to Melbourne Park on Monday was Gail Benedetti, who as Gail Sherriff was an elite tennis player from the 1960s to the 1980s and who now lives on the French island of Corsica.

Benedetti, still a keen international tennis player, is the over 75 world champion. Benedetti said she loved being at the Open where she reunited with her sister Carol Campling, née Sherriff, of Sydney, who was also a top tennis player in her youth.

“I think it’s fantastic, very exciting,” Benedetti said of being at the tournament, where the sisters catch up with old friends. Benedettiis keen to watch Laurent Lokoli, a player from Corsica who entered via qualifying games, play Belgian David Goffin in the first round on Tuesday.

Benedetti, 77, grew up in Sydney and reached number 11 in singles the world in her heyday. She was a quarter finalist twice at the Australian and French Opens. Benedetti remembers losing against Evonne Goolagong — who is now a good friend — in 1972 when the Australian Open was at Kooyong stadium.

Benedetti represented both Australia and France in the Federation Cup.

She moved to France after marrying a Frenchman in 1968. She beat Margaret Court at the French Open in 1972 and she won against Billie Jean King in 1964 in Adelaide.

Benedetti still flies from Florida to Spain to compete in tennis and is soon to play in the French Riviera.

There’s no money it, she says. So why does she still play?

“It’s because I love it. I love the game. I love the exertion, the effort to make you feel good about yourself. And the friendships.”

Campling, 76, from Newington in Sydney, still plays A grade tennis. In her youth she also played in the Federation Cup for Australia. In a 1967 tournament in Uganda, Campling took Margaret Court to three sets before Court won.

As doubles partners, the sisters reached the semi-finals of the 1965 French Open. In 1966, they played against each other in the second round at Wimbledon, the only known time since 1884 two sisters had played one another at Wimbledon at that time. Benedetti won in three sets.

The sisters were fated to play tennis; their father was a tennis coach and they had access to four clay courts at their home at Hurlstone Park, near where the Sydney Olympic stadium would be built. Campling first played tennis at age three, Benedetti at age nine.

Almost 400 ball kids are charged with keeping the Australian Open running smoothly for the next fortnight, which involves delivering ammunition to the world’s best servers, mopping up sweat, supplying fresh towels and keeping players hydrated.

But who makes up this silent army of ball shepherds?

Hear directly from the young teenagers who made the cut as grand slam ballkids from more than a thousand applicants, learn the language of ballkidding and relive the wonderful – and sometimes painful – moments ballkids are inadvertently thrust into the spotlight.