World number 2 tennis player Rafael Nadal on Wednesday (February 17, 2021) crashed out of the Australian Open. The Spaniard lost to Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Australian Open quarter-finals at Melbourne Park.
According to The Times of India, the historic match witnessed 22-year old Stefanos Tsitsipas recovering from two sets down to stun 20-times Grand Slam champion. Tsitsipas beat Nadal 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 7-5.
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Nadal who had secured his 13th quarter-final spot by beating Fabio Fognini 6-3 6-4 6-2, was on course for a comfortable victory, but Tsitsipas managed to completely turn the match around.
The fifth seed also became the only third man to have rallied from two sets down to beat Rafa at a Grand Slam.
“Well done for him, he played better than me probably in the important moments,” Nadal was quoted as saying by Reuters.
He added, “I tried my best in every single moment. I think I stayed positive all the time during the match, fighting, and it was not enough. Sometimes it’s enough, today was not enough.”
Tsitsipas will meet Russian Daniil Medvedev for a place in the final.
“I’m speechless. I have no words,” Tsitsipas said post-match and added, “I fly like a little bird and everything was working for me.”. He also expressed, “The emotions, in the end, are indescribable.”
Defending champion Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev were among the few who had blamed the 14-day quarantine period in the lead up to the Australian Open for the injury setbacks during the tournament but Rafael Nadal said it’s tough but the only way to keep the tour going in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We can find excuses or reasons, or maybe this quarantine that we need to be more time in the room than usual,” Nadal said. “But I’m not the guy that’s going to find excuses on that or going to complain about what happened, no. Just accept. I never considered myself an unlucky person at all. Doesn’t matter the injuries that I had. I think I am a very lucky person.”
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