Wimbledon 2022

Nadal: "For a moment I thought I would not be able to finish, hope to be fit for the semi-finals"

The Spaniard overcame an injury en route to a win over Fritz and a Wimbledon semi-final: "The crowd picked me up. I had to serve differently. I will have to be 100% to have a chance against Kirius."

And also: the victory numbers

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sport

06/07/2022

Wednesday, 06 July 2022, 21:43

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Ticket: Today's summary clip, 6.7 (Sports 1)

Refuses to surrender: Raphael Nadal hit another difficult hurdle at Wimbledon 2022 tonight (Wednesday), in the form of Taylor Fritz who came to the meeting without dropping a battle throughout the tournament and even led twice in sets, but the mighty Spaniard eventually won 6: 3, 5: 7, 6: 3, 5: 7, 6: 7 (4) and advanced to the semifinals.

The Grand Slam winner, who had already won this year in Australia and Roland Garros, suffered an abdominal muscle injury during the game that threatened to force him to retire from the tournament, when it was also the advice of his father and sister while Rafa received medical treatment.

This is the second time in Nadal's career that he has won a Grand Slam match in a tiebreaker in the fifth set, when the first was in the quarterfinals of the United States Championship against Dominic Tim in 2018.

That same year, the Spaniard also recorded previous victories in five sets at Wimbledon.

His opponent in that game, which was also held in the quarterfinals, was Juan Martin del Potro.

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Relentless.

Nadal after the victory (Photo: GettyImages, Clive Brunskill)

Nadal became the fourth open-tennis player to win the first two Grand Slam tournaments of the year and reached the semi-finals on Tuesday: Rod Leber did so in 1969, Bjorn Burg in 1978 and 1980 and Novak Djokovic in 2021, a year in which he also won three The first Grand Slams and only surrendered in the United States to Danil Medvedev.

Nadal, as is well known, defeated Fritz at the end of a tiebreaker that ended in an impressive 4:10 to the credit of the bull from Mallorca.

It was the tenth time Sandal has come out on top with a tie-breaker in the last 11 games, but the only one to beat him in that streak was the same Fritz who subdued him in two sets in the last Indian Wells final.

If Fritz had beaten Nadal tonight as well, he would have entered a very prestigious list of only 10 tennis players who are in a positive balance against Nadal throughout their careers, not coincidentally most of them met him only once and came out of the same encounter with their hand on the top.

He also overcame an injury.

Nadal (Photo: GettyImages, GLYN KIRK / AFP)

"I had a tough game against a wonderful player, all the credit goes to Taylor who played great throughout the season. For me personally it was not an easy game, so I'm just happy to be in the semi-finals," Nadal concluded after the win.

"My body in general feels fine. I had to find a way to serve differently. There were moments when I thought I would not be able to finish the game, but I drew energies from the crowd on the pitch."

The Spaniard was reminded - as requested - that today 14 years ago the unforgettable final was held in which he defeated Roger Federer, to which he replied: "I felt the crowd lifted me. It is impossible not to remember that final against Roger, all the special moments we shared around the world "And the games we had here. I did not imagine that in 2022 I would play here at Wimbledon, but I am here and grateful for that."

Finally, the man who won 22 majors referred to Nick Kirius, his semi-final opponent, to whom the crowd responded with contemptuous whistles at his name amid accusations of assaulting his partner: "I hope to be fit to play. Nick is an excellent player on every surface, especially here on the pitch. I will have to be 100% to have a chance. "

• sport

• tennis

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• Raphael Nadal

• Wimbledon