In-depth: Rafael Nadal's opening round loss to Fernando Verdasco: The end of a legend?

Rafa Nadal lost to Fernando Verdasco in the opening round of the Australian Open, losing 7-6(6) 4-6 3-6 7-6(4) 6-2 to his Davis Cup team-mate.

It always looked likely to be a tough match for Nadal against a player who, while now 32 years old, is a former top 10 player and still in the top 50.

And so it proved: the two players were evenly matched throughout, and Verdasco pulled away in the final set as Nadal's form began to wilt while his opponent kept on hitting the lines.

This defeat will raise fresh questions about Nadal's long-term future, the 14-times Grand Slam winner having suffered yet another setback as he continues to battle for form and fitness.

He showed signs of returning to the top at the end of last season, and made it to the final in Qatar at the beginning of January.

But a one-sided defeat at the hands of Novak Djokovic in that match, combined with this first-round exit in the opening match in Melbourne, suggest that his best days are now well in the past.

That will be a bitter pill to swallow for a man who stands alone as the only player in the history of tennis to go 10 consecutive seasons winning at least one Grand Slam title a year.

In 2015 that run of Nadal's ended, the injury-ravaged Spaniard failing to progress beyond the quarter-finals at any of the four majors.

At Wimbledon last year, Nadal was philosophical about his problems on the court.

"I don't know if I will be back to the level of 2008 or 2010 or 2007 or 2006 or '11," he said. "My motivation is try to be back to that level. But I am going to keep working on that. But if I don't make that happen..." he added, tailing off.

Later in the season, however, he had changed his viewpoint and was feeling confident once more, saying in August that he "had his mental strength back" once more.

In November, he sounded just as positive after losing to Roger Federer in the Basel Indoor tournament final: "I believe it has been a great important week for me this year but at the same time for the future," he said, suggesting that he was happy with how it was going.

And in January of this he looked in fine fettle as he made the final of the Qatar Open with a win over David Ferrer.

"Last year was a tough year for me mentally, but when I was able to fix my mental problems, I started to play much better and I am feeling good now," he said. "I feel ready for action, ready for the competition. We will see if I am able to keep doing it for the rest of the season."

That optimism was quashed by a one-sided final in that match in Doha, however, Novak Djokovic destroying him in straight sets.

Nadal had brushed off that defeat before Melbourne, however - and probably rightly so, considering Djokovic's dominance over everyone in the game right now - saying that he brought "happy feelings" with him to Australia, and insisting that he was at his "healthiest in years" ahead of the season-opening Grand Slam.

The Spaniard tried to stay positive after Tuesday's defeat as well, putting it down to Verdasco's inspired form: "The match is five sets... he was playing amazing in the last set," Nadal said.

"He had a lot of success all the balls hitting full power in the fifth."

He did admit his disappointment, however.

"It's tough especially because it's not like (it) was here last year," added Nadal, who was beaten by Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals a year ago.

"This year was a completely different story -- I had been playing and practising great and working so much, so it's tough when you work so much and you arrive at a very important event and you go out so early."

Later on, in his press conference, Nadal was rather gloomier - suggesting that his approach to the game may be flawed in the current era.

"The game is changing a little bit," the world number five said after only his second career loss in the opening round of a grand slam tournament.

"Everybody now tries to hit all the balls. There are no balls that you can prepare the point. The game has become a little bit more crazy in this aspect.

"I was practising a little bit different, trying to be more aggressive. I can play defensive or offensive. But if you stay in the middle, then I am dead.

"You cannot be in the middle of being offensive or defensive, because it is obvious that finally you don't have a consistent strategy, then you are lost."

The clay court season can't come around fast enough for the 29-year-old. Tennis's slowest surface was utterly dominated by Nadal, who has won nine French Open titles, eight consecutive Monte Carlo Masters titles and eight wins at the Rome Masters.

What's more, as some on social media have pointed out, the loss could even be seen as a good omen: this is only the second time that Nadal has made a first round exit at a Grand Slam tournament. The first time that happened - at Wimbledon in 2013 - Nadal won two of the next three Grand Slam tournaments he entered, and made the final of the other.

Greg Rusedski was keen to look at the positives as Rafael Nadal lost in the first round of the Australian Open.