In a stunning turn of events Rafael Nadal was forced to retire when down 3-0 in the third set against Dzumhur. Rafa said he felt ‘perfect’ before the match and seemed to be cruising along until around 4-4 in the second set. All of a sudden Rafa started to make numerous unforced errors and started moving sluggishly for him. Nadal also started to try and end the points quickly rather than grind his opponent down as he typically does.
The conditions were very severe on the stadium court today between the heat and humidity. Damir Dzumhur, from Bosnia, felt lll in the first set and felt he might have to retire in the first set because he was feeling faint and dizzy.
Damir hung In there because he was playing The Great “RAFA ” he felt he needed to tough it out. And he did. Rafa was up 40-love serving in the first game of the 3rd set and managed to break Rafa and that really changed the match.
In his home country, Damir was a child acting star, the whole country is celebrating his win. However he was subdued in his celebration on court as he felt bad that Rafa had to retire.
As for Rafael Nadal, he thinks he will be practicing in a couple of days and thinks he has been playing well and anticipates a successful clay court campaign.
This is the first time RAFA couldn’t complete a match in something like Ten years ? A long time … Roger has never ever retired during a match during his entire professional career. This is rare for RAFA so you know he had to get off that court in a hurry.
10sBalls thanks Don Petrine for sharing his observations with us.
Topics: 10sballs.com, Atp World Tour, Damir Dzumhur, Don Petrine, Miami Open tennis, Rafa Nadal, Sports, Tennis News
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