Rafael Nadal first of the Big Four to go out of Wimbledon
In a thrilling match against 16th seed Gilles Muller, Rafael Nadal goes out in the fourth round, after almost five hours of grueling play at Wimbledon.
After trailing the first two sets, Rafael Nadal loses his bid for a third Wimbledon title after a back-and-forth, thrilling fifth set, succumbing to the grass specialist, Gilles Muller, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13. So many times the Spaniard has come back after two sets down, and he did the same this time by winning the third and fourth, pushing the match to the evening hours. As the sun was setting, the Spanish pirate was irritated by the setting sun and someone’s watch in the stands, but still kept even with the Luxembourg left-hander as the two stayed neck-and-neck in the final set, with both players remaining evenly matched.
The day’s lineup was labeled “Manic Monday” and the epic match with the 34-year-old from Luxembourg lived up to every bit of the day’s hype. Muller employed the stunning grass game he’s known for, and played the match of his life. There were moments when it looked like the nerves were going to get the best of him, but he was able to keep up with the two-time Wimbledon champion (2008, 2010) and hit his own version of grass-court winners all over the court, rushing the net when he needed and working angles that kept the crowd on their seats. The best match of the tournament so far, the crowd even did “the wave” at one point. It looked like Nadal was going to sail through by characteristically battling back four match points. But an inspired Muller kept pace with the 15-time grand slam champion and steeled his nerve to finally draw the match to a close as he forced the last error from the 10-time French Open champion.
Where Nadal displayed great mental resilience, Muller kept his head cool.
As inspired as Muller was, Nadal looked uncharacteristically tired, running all over to the court, and even slipping at one point. Taking into account the enthralling clay season that the No. 2 ranked player just commanded, perhaps it was too much to expect Nadal to do the same at the grass grand slam. Transitioning from clay to grass is always difficult and perhaps the marathon tennis the sports legend had performed all year long finally caught up with him.
Nadal has never had a great winning record at the grand slam anyway, with losses in the early rounds in the past few years. However, with his resurgent display since coming back from an injury at the beginning of the year, expectations were high for the tennis legend.
“It was not my best match against a very uncomfortable opponent,” said Nadal in his press conference afterwards, clearly displaying both disappointment and annoyance.
Once the marathon match was over, both players received a standing ovation from an appreciative crowd who knew they had witnessed the match of the tourney.
“In the last two match points I just said give it 100percent,” said Muller, which is exactly what he did.
“It’s definitely the biggest win,” he continued. “In 2013 I had a big injury. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to come back. I mean, I played many great matches since then.
“But this is definitely the biggest victory since then, since I came back, especially at that stage of a Grand Slam, playing one of the guys who is dominating the tennis this year again.”
Gilles Muller will face Marin Cilic next, who completed his entire match against Baptista Agut in less time than the fifth set of the Nadal-Muller lasted. Cilic beat the Luxembourg player at Queen’s Club a few weeks back on grass and the year before at Rotterdam, the only two times they’ve played.