| place: all england dates: Jun 27 – Jul 10 |
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Rafael Nadal struggled through injury to come out from behind to defeat Taylor Fritz and reach the Wimbledon semi-finals.
The Spaniard, who stopped treatment at the end of the second set and struggled with his mobility for extended periods, won 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10-4).
He keeps Nadal’s bid for the Grand Slam Championship calendar on track and puts his semi-final match against Nick Kyrgios on track.
Nadal, who had been tying his stomach in his previous match, was troubled by the same problem again.
The first question he faced after winning a winning forehand, in a match that once looked like he might never be able to finish, was “How did you do that?”
He was the one on the lips of anyone who witnessed the events in the Family Central Hall.
“I don’t know,” said the 36-year-old.
Nadal, who had been in good shape the previous two games, got off to a good start with a break in the opening match but Fritz scrambled into the net to fire a stunning forehand on the line to break the score 3-3.
Since then, Nadal has appeared physically agitated and when he granted Fritz a double-fault break, the American wasted no time serving the set with three aces in a row.
The 22-times Spanish Grand Slam champion walked off the court for treatment at 3-4 in the second set, and although he came back to take this set, his movement continued to falter and he struggled on backhands and on serve, something that increasingly decreased in speed.
Hanging his head while seated at the turns, he looked lost, and the coach called up at the end of the third set he handed to Fritz when he sent a forehand far. Had a chat with the coach but no treatment, just shook his head before heading to baseline.
Nadal was broken eight times in the match, serving 25mph slower than his opponent, but he held on to take the fourth set and force a decisiveness that seemed unlikely at times.
It was a reminder that this is one of the all-time greats of his sport and his fighting spirit is his hallmark.
Nadal earned break points at 3-3 in fifth, one of which was saved with a hard net, before turning the fourth at the end with a light forehand shot.
But Fritz, who beat Nadal earlier this year in the Indian Wells final, responded brilliantly with an instant break and stuck to letting the Spaniard serve to stay in the match as the past four hours went by.
He held his ground and Fritz quickly held his serve again with a header, then Nadal cheered as he took it in the tiebreak, as he quickly advanced 5-0.
A shot from the Spaniard left Fritz lying on his back, watching Nadal’s victory overtake him at the end of a 25-shot Rally, before finally turning the two-time Wimbledon champion with a forehand that put him at Wimbledon eighth. The semi-finals.
More to track.
