He may be a seasoned veteran the winner of more grand slams than any other man in history, but Spain's Rafael Nadal still managed to dish up something new at the Australian Open on Monday.

Playing his first round match against dangerous 21-year-old Jack Draper from the United Kingdom, Nadal battled his way through to claim a tough first set.

But it was during the break between sets that things got interesting.

The 22-time grand slam winner and reigning Australian Open champion became clearly agitated and held up play as he searched for something.

As his curious opponent stood by, it became clear that one of the ball boys had swiped the racquet that he was still using. 

'The ball boy, the ball boy take my racket,' a flustered Nadal said to his opponent. 

'They've taken his racket that he's using at the moment, that he wants,' commentator Mark Petsche laughed.

'Hopefully they haven't cut the strings out of it.' 

Fellow commentator John Fitzgerald saw the serious side of it, though. Nadal is well known for his particular mannerisms during tennis matches including the order or his water bottles - and tennis rackets. 

'Goodness me, that's a big mistake and he knows. He knows the tension, he knows the sequence he wants to use the racquets in.' 

'You don't often get a first in a Rafa match after all these years, but that is definitely the first that that would've happened,' Petsch added.

As play continued to be suspended, Fitzgerald began to wonder if the ball boy had taken off from the venue with his new prized possesion.

'It's worth a bit too, that racquet, he may never see that again,' he said with a laugh.

'That might be on the streets of Melbourne somewhere.

'I am sure he will get it back, but he's had to take one of sequence here, hasn't he.'

Eventually Nadal relented and grabbed the next racquet from his kit bag, thoroughly disrupting his famed meticulous approach to everything in a tennis match.

Unfortunately for the Spaniard, the disruption may have played on his mind as Draper would storm through the second set 6-2.

Nadal had admitted nerves heading into the match after losing a string of games in the leadup on return from injury.

'Of course, without a doubt,' he said.

'I have been losing more than usual, that's part of the business. Just accept the situation. I think I am humble enough to accept that situation and just work with what I have today.

'I need to build again all this momentum. I need to build again this confidence with myself with victories. But it's true that I have been losing more than usual.'