Australian Open: Nadal’s self-criticism: “I made some mistakes that I could not indulge in”

• Humus.
  
  Tsitsipas lifts Nadal two sets and frustrates his dream of surpassing Federer’s 20 greats

• Karatsev.
  
  The 27-year-old revelation that he had only won three ATP matches

Two mistakes can cost you your life. Even more in front of a magnificent rival. They bring additional pain when they occur in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam, with the near horizon of becoming the single tennis player who treasures the most titles in this category. All of that happened to Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open. The adversary accompanied by the deserved epithet was Stefanos Tsitsipas, who also, because everything adds up, took physical advantage of his 22 years, compared to the 34 of the Spaniard, and of having escaped the match of eighths when his rival could not play it, Matteo Berretini, victim of an abdominal injury. Two missed shots, which were not too difficult, by the number two in the world, by the man who still has Roger Federer as a neighbor in the luxurious 20’s penthouse majors, in the tiebreaker of the third set, they gave rise to an unsuspected storm. Tsitsipas won 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 and 7-5, in four hours and seven minutes.

Not even the most furious of his followers would have given a drachma for Tsitsipas up to that moment, because the match belonged to Nadal, with solvency almost comparable to that of the previous four in the competition, overlooking the best status of his opponent, sixth in the competition. world, with two Grand Slam semifinals behind him and an ATP Finals title.

But the first smash, with 1-0 in favor and service of the Spaniard, he went long, and the second, this one with a boat, 3-4 already for Tsitsipas, also exceeded the limits of the runway. I made some mistakes that I couldn’t afford if I wanted to win, and from then on the game got complicated, the victim admitted, who had to leave the post-game press conference momentarily because of a muscle strain.

“I was flying like a bird”

It was from tie break when Tsitsipas, tending to cyclothymia, a blood player, with a Mediterranean temperament, found the point of inspiration and began to play as if he were putting the value of the loot down: loose, unprejudiced, free. I don’t know what happened after the third set: I was flying like a bird, everything worked for me. It is indescribable, commented the Greek, who two years ago, in the semifinals, could only scratch Nadal six games. In that 2019, he had the pleasure of beating Federer in the quarterfinals. Last autumn, in the semifinals of Roland Garros, he led to the fifth set Novak Djokovic, also coming two sets down. It remained for him to adjust distances with Nadal, who, despite narrowing the field in his last two previous indoor matches, had only defeated in one of his seven previous matches: Mutua Madrid Open, semifinals, 2019.

In the last two sets of the match in question Tsitsipas built a fort around his serve, where the maximum concession was the point of break of the final game of the match, after Nadal, fight until the end instant, as usual, would have saved the first of the two match points to which he remedied.

Campen in 2009 and four times a finalist (2010, 2012, 2014 and 2019), the left-hander leaves in the same instance as last year. Then fell before Dominic Thiem, 27, who, although almost five years older than Tsitsipas, is also to be regarded as one of the standard bearers of the intelligentsia. Something is changing, albeit slowly.

The Spaniard will have at Roland Garros, where he sports 13 glasses, another opportunity to consume the overtaking about Federer. Earlier, this Thursday, (09.30 h.), Again with the public in the stands, Djokovic, 17 of the greats, will measure with Asln Karatsev, from the previous one, in the first semifinal. One day later it will be Tsitsipas who seeks to prolong the ecstasy before Daniil Medvedev, what win Andrey Rublev and adds 19 consecutive victories. He has not lost since last October 30, when Kevin Anderson beat him in the Vienna quarterfinals.