French Open News: Mackenzie McDonald Has The Mindset He ‘Can Beat’ Rafael Nadal

Defeating Rafael Nadal in the French Open is a near-impossible task given how the Spaniard has won a total of 12 Roland Garros trophies. For Mackenzie McDonald, he believes that in order to stand a chance against Nadal, he has to have confidence in himself.

Coming from a hamstring injury, McDonald has been on the road to recovery as a professional athlete. The former UCLA standout was seen as a promising tennis star before he was sidelined care of a torn right proximal hamstring tendon.

“It took a really serious team and a lot of hard work. The surgery was pretty big. I have a massive scar underneath my butt and I wasn’t able to walk for the first month-and-a-half, two months. Time was going by really slowly,” McDonald said, ATP Tour reported.

The 25-year-old shared that he struggled with going to the bathroom and leaving his apartment as it was hard for him to walk around.

“I had to be very patient, something that really taught me a lot. From there, you just slowly creep back. The [work on] court goes from hitting from the center to two feet around you to three feet around you. We took every step extremely carefully,” McDonald added.

Despite the major setback in his career, he’s off to a strong start in this year’s French Open as he defeated Canadian Steven Diez in four sets.

Now, he’s scheduled to go against Nadal in Roland Garros. The “King of Clay” is perceived as the favorite to win the tournament as he’s aiming to win the 20th Grand Slam of his career.

“[It is] probably one of the biggest challenges you can face in sports, playing him here. I think this year I have the best chance of any year,” McDonald shared.

Although it’s a big test to face one of the top players in the world, McDonald emphasized that it’s important to enter the match with self-confidence.

“I think with the balls, with the speed, with how much lower it’s bouncing [that will help]. I think I’m playing the best clay-court tennis I have played and he hasn’t played too much this year. I think it’s a tough challenge, but I have to believe that I can beat him,” McDonald concluded.

From struggling to walk to now facing one of the sports’ top players, McDonald is ready to give it his all in the second round of the French Open.