Wimbledon is heading rapidly to its conclusion. Still, there are few more phases to go through and a lot to digest after the fourth round session. Yesterday, Manic Monday brought in a significant amount of raw drama involving both women's and men's contests.
Rafael Nadal was the subject of the biggest upset of the tournament as he was edged out by a spellbinding Gilles Muller who has made it to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event for the first time in his career. He did so at 34 years of age when no one saw it coming.
Nadal once again failed to reach at least the last eight stages of the grass court tournament.
For six years in a row, the next phase has not included Rafael Nadal in its ranks.
Five hours and five sets of pure drama
Entering Wimbledon without any warm-up event under his belt Rafael cruised through the opening rounds, He met Gilles Muller as his opponent at the Manic Monday's session. The 34-year-old from Luxembourg was ranked 26th in the world prior to Wimbledon but received the 16th slot on the seeded list due to his positive history on grass recently.
As a warm-up for this event, Muller had a solid session winning the ATP 250 event in Hertogenbosch and reached the semis at the Queen's (ATP 500). The opening set saw Muller racing past Nadal as the 34-year-old sealed the set at 6-3. The second act was in the balance but Nadal wasn't quite there, allowing Muller to break one more time and go two sets in front.
As expected, the Spaniard didn't cave in without a fight as he bounced back to win the next two sets. It all came down to a decisive fifth set where the Spaniard couldn't resist the firepower from Luxembourg. Saving a couple of match points wasn't enough as Nadal lost his serve in the 28th game of that epic set.
For Muller, next comes Marin Cilic and they are set to make quite an interesting quarterfinals.
Both players are relying on their service game so every single mistake during the process could weigh into the final result. For Rafael Nadal, there comes another period of time off after having some gruelling months on the clay courts.
Nadal will pose a threat during the American hardcourt session
With his run at Wimbledon, Rafael Nadal is now 46-7 on the win/ loss counter of 2017.
Having more than 50 matches under his belt is extraordinary given his history of injuries and lack of form. Six months after that tremendous comeback in Melbourne, the 31-year-old is at his peak despite losing at Wimbledon.
There are some questions whether or not he could extend this momentum in the upcoming North American swing. The U.S. Open is the biggest target for the remainder of the season and Nadal would love to get all the way there.
