Del Potro sets up cracker of semis against Nadal
World No 1 in sight of the grass slam after seven years
After seven years of struggles, Rafael Nadal is finally looking like a contender again at Wimbledon.
The top-ranked Spaniard is back in the quarter-finals at the All England Club for the first time since 2011 — and playing a lot like the man who reached his fifth final that year.
“It’s true it has been a while,” Nadal said about his return to the last eight. “But when I come here, I come here thinking that I can do a good result, no?”
Clearly, the King of Clay hasn’t forgotten how to play on grass.
The 11-time French Open champion beat Jiri Vesely 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 on Centre Court on Monday and has yet to drop a set in this tournament. While tougher tests are still to come, it seems the old Nadal is back at Wimbledon. He has a tough contender waiting in the last eight in Juan Martin Del Potro, who saw off Frenchman Gilles Simon 7-6(1) 7-6(5) 5-7 7-6(5) yesterday.
The fifth seed had led by two sets on Monday but Simon grabbed the third set before fading light ended play.
With Nadal waiting the winner, yesterday’s fourth set, played in much cooler conditions than the first three the day before, turned into a mini-epic before Del Potro eventually prevailed 7-6(5).
Del Potro looked flat as he was broken to trail 3-1 but he clawed his way back to lead 5-4 with his serve to come.
He looked on the brink of victory when he moved 40-15 ahead but both match points vanished, the second with a double-fault.
Simon failed to convert a break point, then a third match point for Del Potro ended with him netting a forehand. The 33-yearold Simon saved a fourth match point when he threw the kitchen sink at a forehand return and the world No. 53 eventually took his fourth break point to level at 5-5. Del Potro trailed 1-3 but at 5-5 he fired down a swinging ace to reach match point No. 5 and this time Simon cracked, netting a backhand to the relief of the Argentine who roared his approval.
While Nadal has found grass difficult of late, he insists some of those results were misleading.
“To be fair and honest, we have to think about the things that happened. In 2012, 2013, I was not able to compete. Even if I played, I was not able to compete with the knees the way I had. (In) 2014, I played a good tournament. I lost in the fourth round against a player I can lose to [Nick Kyrgios], 2015 was a very bad year for me, not on grass, on most of the surfaces. It’s normal that I lost here, too. In 2016 I didn’t play because of my wrist. In 2017 I played well, 2018 I am playing well.”