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Rafael Nadal at the US Open on Monday
Photo: ANGELA WEISS / AFP
The Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal surprisingly failed in the round of 16 at the US Open in New York.
The 22-time Grand Slam tournament winner had to admit defeat to the American Frances Tiafoe 4: 6, 6: 4, 4: 6 and 3: 6 on Tuesday night - and thus conceded in the 23rd Grand Slam -Game of this year the first defeat.
"The difference between us today is easy to explain," said Nadal: "I played a bad match and he played a very good one.
I wasn't able to push him back.
The quality and my understanding of the game were bad.«
The 24-year-old Tiafoe is the youngest male US tennis pro in the quarterfinals of the US Open since Andy Roddick in 2006. In the round of the top eight, number 22 seeded Tiafoe meets Russia's Andrei Rublev, who clearly defeats Britain's Cameron Norrie 6: 4, 6: 4 and 6: 4 prevailed.
Previously, 36-year-old Nadal had won the Australian Open and the French Open.
In Wimbledon he did not compete in the semifinals against Australian Nick Kyrgios because of an abdominal muscle injury.
In the all-time Grand Slam leaderboard, Nadal continues to rank with 22 trophies ahead of Serbian Novak Djokovic (21 major titles) and Swiss Roger Federer (20).
aar/dpa