“It’s unbelievable,” Rafael Nadal’s two Grand Slam titles called ‘miracle’ by Mats Wilander who believes the Spaniard was not ‘100%’ following defeat at US Open

“It’s unbelievable,” Rafael Nadal’s two Grand Slam titles called ‘miracle’ by Mats Wilander who believes the Spaniard was not ‘100%’ following defeat at US Open

Mats Wilander and Rafael Nadal (Via Imago/X)

World No. 3 Rafael Nadal who was the 2nd seed at the 2022 US Open suffered a crushing 4th round defeat to World No. 26 Frances Tiafoe that handed the Spaniard his first defeat in a Grand Slam event this year having won 22 consecutive matches in majors before the defeat.

Tiafoe won the match 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to enter the quarter-finals at the US Open for the very first time while also denying Rafa the chance to win his 5th US Open title and record-extending 23rd career major title as the absence of Novak Djokovic was a good chance for Rafa to increase his lead.

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“Rafael Nadal hasn’t played enough tennis this season,”: Mats Wilander

Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal

With the defeat at hands of Tiafoe, Nadal admitted to a poor level of play and also hinted toward taking an extended break to be with his pregnant wife Mery who has been having some complications in pregnancy and Rafa wants nothing else apart from being with his wife at the moment.

“It looked like Rafa was either a little bit slow, or it could be that it is very difficult to read Frances Tiafoe’s game. When you look at Fabio Fognini and Tiafoe, both their forehands are hit with an extremely short and quick back swing.

“We have to remember though that Rafa hasn’t played enough tennis. It is a miracle that he has won two Grand Slams this year and reaching the semis at Wimbledon. If you look at his year, with the regular season he had he actually won two Grand Slams – that’s unbelievable.

“It wasn’t expected, but I think the players know when Rafa isn’t quite at 100 per cent level,” said 7-time Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander speaking on Eurosport taken aback by Nadal’s defeat to Tiafoe that denies the Spaniard a shot at 3rd major of the season.

With Nadal putting the remainder of his season in doubts, Tiafoe will look to move further ahead as he will now take on 9th seeded Andrey Rublev with the Russian coming into his 3rd US Open quarter-final at the expense of British southpaw Cameron Norrie in a straight-set win.

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