Heckler booted from nadal match

Oliver CaffreyThe West Australian Rafael Nadal has laughed off a crowd heckling interruption to romp through his second-round Australian Open clash with American Michael Mmoh. The world No.2

was on Rod Laver Arena for less than two hours as he took down the qualifier 6-1 6-4 6-2. The match was briefly stopped late in the second set as a woman started shouting at Nadal for no

apparent reason. Despite the spectator yelling obscenities and raising her finger at him, the Spaniard simply smiled and watched as security escorted her out of Melbourne Park. When asked

on-court post-match if he knew the woman, Nadal replied: “No, and honestly, I don’t want to know.” The 34-year-old was equally as perplexed when fronting his media conference less than an

hour later. “Maybe she had too much gin or tequila. I don’t know,” Nadal told reporters. “Honestly it was strange situation, but funny at the same time. “I was surprised, yes, but at the

same time was thinking, ’Poor girl’, because probably she was drunk or something like this.” The unusual incident livened up an otherwise routine match for the 2009 Open champion. Despite

entering the first grand slam of the year with concerns about a back injury, Nadal is yet to drop a set in his opening two matches. In positive news for a deep run through the tournament,

the 20-time major winner has been on court for a total time of under four hours. Nadal produced some spectacular backhand shots against Mmoh to give old foes like Novak Djokovic plenty to

think about. “I have been improving my backhand doing all my career,” Nadal said. “When I was younger, I was able to run everywhere; now I need to have better shots on the backhand.” Nadal

admits his back spasms are not fully under control but continues to do everything he can to recover. “If you see my motion on the serve it is different than what I would like,” he said. “I

just keep fighting for a solution. “The preparation the last 15 days have not been the ideal one, but here I am. I won two matches in straight sets.” He will meet Englishman Cameron Norrie

in the the third round after the world No.68 defeated Russia’s Roman Safiullin in four sets. GET THE LATEST NEWS FROM THEWEST.COM.AU IN YOUR INBOX. Sign up for our emails