Forget the fact he had to withdraw from his Wimbledon semifinal against Nick Kyrigos. Disregard the fact his bid for a calendar grand slam has come to an end. For Rafael Nadal once again established himself as the single predominant warrior in all of sports, defying the physical, mental , and external hindrances to overcome the Wednesday behemoth that was himself and NO11 seed Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals. A hampered Nadal, twice erased one-set deficits and emerged with 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10-4) victory Wednesday to reach his eighth semifinal at the All England Club. But all the more imperative was his response to trailing 6-3, 4-3, and looking so crippled that his father was implying from the players box to his son, telling him to quit the match. But Nadal didn’t quit, and just like against Danil Medvedev in the Australian Open final this year, when he trailed by two sets, and rallied to win it. Clearly compromised and in the moment in danger of his 18 match win streak at grand slams coming to a close Nadal had to alter his serving form, hit bigger, expand his quantity or drop shots and basically do anything that wouldn’t require immense pressure on the abominable area of his body where as we would find out later, lies a seven millimeter tear. It was an emotional roller coaster from the start with Rafa breaking Fritz in the first game of the match, and led 3-1 before abruptly dropping five straight games, double faulting uncharacteristically numerous times, while Taylor seized the moment and the set. Nadal called for the trainer, citing his issue and it worsened from there.
Retiring thoughts flashed through everyone’s mind, including Fritz who got tight and allowed Rafa to get back into the match. He pretty much handed over the second set of what would become a 4-hour, 21-minute contest in front of the rambunctious Centre court crowd. After Fritz took the third set, his big serve got broken three times in the next.
Nadal occasionally would watch a ball off Fritz’s orange racket fly by. Nadal couldn’t move the way he usually does. Personally I realized that his trademark grunts of “Uhhhh!” were rare. He didn’t generate the usual zip on his serves, which went into the lowly 90MPH range. He sought to end exchanges with a quick-strike forehand or a drop shot — sometimes with success, often not, and against a player who loves to go big in Fritz playing the match of his life, it’s difficult to expect success; yet he did it.
Rafa has a total of three mid-match retirements at majors (against Andy Murray at the 2010 Australian Open, against Marin Cilic at the 2018 Australian Open, and against Juan Martin del Potro at the 2018 U.S. Open), and wasn’t going to concede now. “The stomach muscle is one you don’t want to mess with and cost you for a few months”, said tennis legend Patrick McEnroe, which means that he was playing through that and used the emotion and adrenaline enhanced by the pro-Rafa crowd to help will him to remain in the match. He dropped his serve in the third and lost 6-3, but toughed out a gritty fourth set 7-5, to force a decider. The current GOAT and 22 time grand slam winner then saved his best for last as after dropping the 4-3 break advantage he had, Rafa held at 4-5 and 5-6, forcing a winner-take all 10 point tiebreaker. This is when vintage Nadal finally showed, as he boat-raced to a quick 5-0 lead an eventual 10-4 win, pumping his left fist high in the air as the fans enamored in approval after the over 4:30 hour epic. It’s what separates the greats of tennis from the rest. The ability to step out of your comfort zone and still find a way to summon your best efforts that accumulate to a hard-earned victory especially in a sport where your on your own out there, and there’s no coaching allowed during matches. What’s made Nadal virtually impeccable is his problem-solving skills, as his prolific play and tactical changes allowed him to keep his hopes of securing his third Wimbledon title (First since 2010) and grand slam #23 alive for a few more hours. It was the ultimate feat of endurance and perseverance. Yes it wasn’t a championship match victory, but considering the circumstances, it’s one that will transcend into Nadal career lore when he finally decides to put down his racket for good.
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