Fernando Verdasco embraces his career-defining run to an Australian Open semifinal some 14 years ago, even if it ended in one of his most harrowing defeats to Rafael Nadal.
It is a match that has stood the test of time as one of the great battles waged on Rod Laver Arena – five-set tennis at its absolute finest, stretched across five hours and 14 minutes.
On Tuesday, the 39-year-old opened his bid to reach an 18th Australian Open main draw with a 3-6 6-4 6-2 triumph over Croatian Nino Serdarusic in qualifying.
“After playing I think 17 years in the main draw and one year the qualies in 2003 I'm back in the qualies because of the surgeries and the loss of ranking that I had two years ago,” the current world No.125 told ausopen.com.
“Obviously it's not the best way to come back but happy to be here because it's one of my favourite tournaments and where I have lived part of my best experiences and emotions and matches here.”
After Nadal prevailed in that 2009 semifinal he famously denied Roger Federer for his first Norman Brookes Challenge Cup.
Verdasco accepted he was part of a classic that January night, a showdown that capped a memorable 2009 run, which included wins over Andy Murray in the fourth round and Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in the quarterfinals.
It stood among his most endearing Grand Slam memories almost two decades competing at Melbourne Park.
“Back in 2009, matches like with Rafa in the semis, or Tsonga or Murray, many other matches over almost 20 years (stand out), so it's great to be always back in a tournament like that,” Verdasco said.
“I actually don't really think about the Nadal match so much unless someone remembers those matches. Obviously the 2009 loss was the most important, it was the semis.”
Verdasco accomplished five-set revenge at the 2016 Australian Open when he brought down Nadal in the first round.
Having faced his more decorated countryman 20 times for three victories, he was quick to offer Nadal’s standing among the greats.
“I mean the whole tournament, even if I lost that match (in 2009), the experience that I have lived, the atmosphere that I lived in that semi with him and then in 2016, being able to beat him, it's tough to say if he's the GOAT or if Novak is the GOAT,” Verdasco said.
“I think all three are the GOATs but obviously for me Nadal is the best Spanish athlete in history, so it was amazing to play against him so many times.”
Former world No.29 Jan-Lennard Struff joined Verdasco in the second round of qualifying after a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Alexander Shevchenko.
The 32-year-old German, contesting qualifying at Melbourne Park for the first time since 2016, continued his steady bid to re-enter the top 100 after he missed the entire clay-court swing last year to a right foot injury.
French former world No.18 Benoit Paire emerged victorious with a tightly contested 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-5 triumph over Brazilian Batheus Pucinelli de Almeida.
DRAW: Australian Open 2023 men's qualifying
DRAW: Australian Open 2023 women's qualifying
Fourth-seeded Ecuadorian Emilio Gomez, fifth-seeded Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas and sixth-seeded American Denis Kudla were the highest men’s seeds to advance.
American cousins Ernesto Escobedo and AO 2019 boys’ singles runner-up Emilio Nava reached the second round, while Marc Polmans, Tristan Schoolkate and Li Tu led the Australian charge as three local men to advance on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Katie Boulter admitted her ITF tournament triumph in Canberra last week came out of the blue.
It required quite the adjustment to reset in time for her opening qualifying match at Melbourne Park, which she narrowly eked out 6-2 3-6 7-6[10-5] against Caroline Dolehide.
“I knew it was going to be tough going into it,” Boulter told ausopen.com. “I've played a lot of matches this year and they're physical but you know, I'm in a good place.
“It's just keeping my head straight and working really hard. It's tough to come off a tournament win and start all over again, so I'm really proud of myself getting through that today.
“(Canberra) was a really strong tournament and to go in there and have no expectations and end up winning the tournament, I'm pretty happy to do that, but I'm not finished there, I'm just starting.”
Boulter was one of three British women to progress, including the woman she beat for the Canberra title, Jodie Burrage, and Japanese-born Yuriko Miyazaki, while three Australians -- Priscilla Hon, Astra Sharma and Ellen Perez -- opened with a win.
Women’s top seed Alycia Parks had already outlined her goal to end the season in the top 10 and took her first step towards an Australian Open main draw debut on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old scraped through against Australian wildcard Alexandra Bozovic 7-6(4) 7-6(2), but second seed Linda Noskova was not so fortunate.
After reaching her maiden WTA 500 final in Adelaide leading in, the 18-year-old was unable to continue her breakout run on Australian soil, falling to Canada’s Katherine Sebov 6-4 3-6 6-4.
In her Grand Slam qualifying debut, fellow Czech, 15-year-old Brenda Fruhvertova posted a 6-0 7-5 win over Natalija Kostic.