Two of the Big 4 advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals on Monday. A third can do the same on Tuesday.
The fourth, however, is no more at the All-England Club. Reigning French Open champion Rafael saw his bid for back-to-back major titles come to an end in the form of a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13 loss to Gilles Muller during a not-quite-full slate of fourth-round action. Muller converted his fifth break chance of the fifth set to pull off the upset after four hours and 47 minutes.
At 34 years old, Muller is through to the Wimbledon quarters for the first time in his career. In fact, the left-handed Luxembourgian had previously never even appeared in round four. He had never been a part of what is annually the so-called best day of the tennis calendar: the second Monday at Wimbledon.
Muller was not merely a part of it this time around. He was the story.
The world No. 26 made a statement early and often that his grass-court game would be able to compete with an opponent who is comfortably atop the 2017 race to the World Tour Finals. Muller took the first two sets at Nadal’s expense and eventually righted the ship after dropping sets three and four. Although he had to save five break points on his own serve during the marathon fifth, Muller always seemed to have the upper hand throughout the decider. Countless 0-30 opportunities went by the wayside until the underdog finally seized his chance with Nadal serving at 13-14. Muller surged to 0-30 again, soon forged ahead to 15-40, and capitalized on his fifth match point when Nadal sent a forehand past the baseline.
“I just tried to hang in there,” this fortnight’s 16th seed explained. “I thought I played pretty well through the whole match. Rafa stepped it up in the third and the fourth sets. Then I just told myself, ‘Look, I’m doing the best I can. I’m playing well. Just hang in there and you’re going to get your chances.’ Got a few of them. Didn’t take the first ones; but still kept believing. Yeah, somehow in the end I made it.”
“Well done for him,” Nadal concluded. “He played well. Especially in the fifth, he played great. I was there; [fought] until the last ball, with the right attitude. Probably was not my best match, but at the same time I played against a very uncomfortable opponent.”
Roger Federer went up against an opponent who has never been uncomfortable for him. The seven-time Wimbledon champion improved to 6-0 lifetime against Grigor Dimitrov by coasting into the last eight with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win.
Federer needed only one hour and 37 minutes to prevail.
“I feel like I’m rested enough,” said the 35-year-old Swiss, who will face Milos Raonic on Wednesday. “I’ve had, you know, not the most toughest matches. I can look at this quarterfinal in a totally relaxed fashion. Physically I’m not fighting anything like last year with my knee.”
Federer fell to Raonic in a five-set semifinal thriller last summer.
Another rematch from the 2016 Wimbledon tournament will come on Tuesday, when Novak Djokovic and Adrian Mannarino will wrap up the fourth-round schedule. Their match was postponed after the Muller-Nadal contest lasted almost until darkness on Court 1. Djokovic and Mannarino collided in the second round last summer, when the Serb got the job done 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(5).
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wow
Once again congrats to Muller for his big win…he deserve it!…Very cool and calm and not faze at all by the huge support to rafa in the stadium…as usual for the last 5 years,rafa win in terms on fans support but lost the real match…in a match like this,we can’t afford to make a lot of mistakes..have to take a chances when given..have to be creative…i guess bad BP conversion[2/16] has cost rafa the match….hey,his winner [77 including 23 aces and only 17 UE’s are awesome!!]…i cannot remember when was the last time rafa made this many winner’s in a slam…
A much as i want to believe that Muller’s fairy tale will continue,i think Cilic will put him right back on earth tomorrow…urgh!the curse of beating rafa!!
Great for Muller, this is his best season of his carreer at age 34! Cilic will win though in 3 sets i think.
Murray in 4 against Querrey.
Federer in 3 against Raonic, he will be super effective once again!
with rafa now out i think it’ll be a querrey v raonic final
You can not be serious!!
This was the best Nadal will feel on courts other than clay and I do not expect him to do well anywhere else but clay from hereon http://www.138mph.com/wimbledon-the-reason-nadal-lost-to-muller/
Kavita (AT 4:47 AMI
It doesn’t matter what YOU don’t expect. It has never mattered what writers haven’t expeted (since Rafa turned professional).
Clearly being runner-up at AO2017 and other HC tournaments after is not “well” enough for you.
Incidentally, Rafa has been written off so many times before…….and come back stronger. So, you will excuse us if we file your prediction under, “Yawwwwn…..”
Above comment seconded.
Are you watching TdeF? What a disgraceful shambles it’s been so far this year. Prudhomme is to blame 🙁
It’s really been such a shambles @ed251137. What the hell were the organizers trying to achieve? Don’t know where to start with the criticisms to be honest…….
Kavita is a woman with a mission. As Hawkeye would say ‘DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS’
#Click bait
Exactly ed, we won’t be fooled by her! No one would want to click on that link that she provided!
Actually, as someone who often reads Kavita’s articles, I can say that they are in general quite informative and insightful. In this case, there is much that someone like Lucky would agree with, in particular, that part of the reason Nadal lost is due to his defensive mind-set and court positioning. Kavita even notes that it’s not that Rafa is *unable* to play close to the baseline and hit hard serves; it’s more that it’s not his general mind-set/playing orientation.
I think it’s always good to read someone with the opposite point of view, and Kavita qualifies for most regular posters on this site.
Nah Joe, she’s trying to get enough clicks to earn whatever $. I need not read her stuff to understand about Rafa. As I’ve mentioned before, Rafa played with the clay counter mindset, he couldn’t break away from that mode, I bet it’s Kavita who read our posts here and then got some inspiration and then wrote her stuff! I won’t be fooled!
I would also want to give you, Joe, some info about Rafa of his earlier days. If you’re keen enough to watch his match vs Fed of Miami 2004, you would’ve noticed that the Rafa back then played with an aggressive mindset and an aggressive game, in fact more a HC game than a clay court game. He ventured to the net >10 times in that 6-3, 6-2 match (which he won) and winning >80% of the points there.
Rafa was playing closer, and returning serves, closer to the baseline back then. Watch also his match vs Hewitt at AO2004, and see for yourself. He was playing a HC game on the HC back then; its only when he had his breakthrough and success on the clay courts in 2005, that he started bringing his clay court game to the HCs too.
After > 10 years of successes on clay, it’s naturally more difficult for Rafa to revert back to his HC style of his earlier years. Rafa had played an aggressive game on the HCs in 2013 NAHC swing and beat Djoko twice (Montreal and USO) during that time. He was returning serves AT or CLOSE to the BASELINE back then.
Rafa is playing a more offensive game this season, even on clay; he’s capable of returning serves from close to the baseline on non clay surfaces, but he has to be confident enough to do so; which explains why when he’s not so confident, he tends to play further and further away from the baseline even on grass and HCs, including his ROS.
Ok, that makes sense. But again, it’s not that far from what Kavita was saying. I don’t know about clicks to make money; I just think that the analysis is in general pretty good, even if the tone is a bit pro-Fed, anti-Rafa at times.