In the quarterfinals of the Aussie open where Rafael Nadal met Andy Murray, we were set to have a marathon match. In the opening set, each player was looking in good form until Murray broke Nadal twice in the set and eventually ran with it, 6-3. In the second set, Nadal seemed to come alive like he usually does, holding serve and ripping forehands cross court and blistering backhand down the line. At 3-2 (Nadal leading), play was suspended for Australia Day fireworks display. When play resumed, Nadal broke Murray’s serve and was up 4-2. Murray broke right back and leveled the set at 4 all. The set eventually went onto a tie break where Nadal’s momentum seemed to slow down quite a bit; Murray took the second set tie break 7-2.
The third set seemed to start normally, until Nadal was on serve in the second game where she chased down a backhand cross court from Murray and it look as though he tweaked his right knee. Immediately after the next point, Nadal called for a trainer and took a medical time out. As we all know, the end of the 2009 tennis season for Nadal was rather bleak since he had been suffering from tendinitis in both his knees. He lost in the semi’s at the French and withdrew from the Wimbledon tennis championships at the Old England Club, where he was to defend his title from 2008. After the medical timeout, Nadal had to finish out his service game where he was at 15 all. He was broken and was behind 0-3, as the players changed over, Nadal met Murray at the net and retired. Game, set, match.
With Nadal in such poor physical condition, why is he even playing? He should obviously be resting his knees and let his body do the healing. Nadal has always been known for his grinding constant running, sliding, and jumping; however, he just could not go the distance this time around. We hope Nadal does recover from this tournament, since he’s such a spectacle to watch on the tennis court.
Vamos Rafa!