Rafael Nadal loses to Lloyd Harris in Washington

If Rafael Nadal was hoping to ease his painful left foot back into action after nearly two months off tour, that’s hardly what happened in his Citi Open debut, which ended after just two matches.

A night after needing three sets and more than three hours to get by, Nadal was eliminated 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 by 50th-ranked Lloyd Harris of South Africa under the lights on Thursday at the hard-court tournament.
Harris hit 16 aces and took advantage of Nadal’s admittedly problematic serve.

The match ended when Nadal got broken for the second time, with Harris dropping his racket in disbelief after delivering a lob winner.

”I played this last game really bad,” said Nadal, a 20-time Grand Slam champion who was seeded No. 1 in Washington. “My serve was not working the proper way.” This was less of a physical tug-of-war between a pair of heavy hitters than Nadal’s victory over 192nd-ranked Jack Sock on Wednesday.

The one bit of good news for Nadal on Thursday was that he said his injured foot felt better.

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