Wimbledon: Indestructible, Rafael Nadal snatches his semi-final! – bein Sports

Rafael Nadal, 4th in the world and winner of the first two Grand Slam tournaments of the year, qualified for the Wimbledon semi-finals on Wednesday by beating American Taylor Fritz (14th) in the fifth set super tie-break 3 -6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10/4). Suffering “at the level of the abdominals”, the 36-year-old Spaniard, double winner (2008 and 2010) on the London lawn, had not played there since his elimination in the semi-finals by Roger Federer in 2019. “The body, I’m generally fine but I have something in my abs. I had to find a way to serve a little differently. I thought several times that I would not finish the match, but the public, with the energy that he sent me, allowed me to go to the end”, he explained. He will face the Australian Nick Kyrgios (40th) on Friday to try to play the sixth final of his career at Wimbledon. “I hope I will be ready to play this match. Nick is a very great player on all surfaces, but in especially on grass. He is having a great season on this surface and I will absolutely have to be 100% to have my chances”, estimated Nadal. Against Fritz, the match was not of great quality, but of rare dramatic intensity, until the super tie-break where Nadal finally played great tennis to end with a winning forehand. Nick Kyrgios in halfInjured and very weakened, the Spaniard seemed on the verge of collapse in the second set. Unable to bend, he could hardly serve or bend down on drop shots. Nevertheless, gritting his teeth, he managed the break to escape 3-0. But Fritz came back to 3-3 and at the change of sides, Nadal made signs of denial to his clan by making faces of pain. He then received treatment in the locker room and, against all expectations, he held on until he made the decisive break allowing him to equalize at one set everywhere (7-5). Fritz regained the lead by fairly quietly winning the third set, as Nadal continued to suffer. The start of the fourth set looked like an ordeal, where he could hardly play his backhands other than sliced. He managed to pull away 4-2, but when Fritz lined up a three-game series to lead 5-4, Nadal’s chances seemed to be extinguished. to lead 6-5 before pushing the game into a deciding set. The two players exchanged a service game in the middle of the fifth set to arrive at the super tie-break: Nadal quickly took the advantage 5/0 and concluded on his second match point. Fritz may have felt like he was reliving the third round of the Australian Open 2021 where he lost in five sets to Novak Djokovic who also injured his abdominals. The Serb had won the tournament a few days later.