Rafael Nadal won his Swedish Open quarter-final but a tennis pundit noticed something concerning regarding his performance.
The tennis legend once again illustrated why he is regarded by many as tennis’ greatest competitor by defeating Mariano Navone.
Nadal beat the last seeded player in the tournament by coming from a set down to claim a 6-7(2), 7-5, 7-5 win in four hours.
This victory meant Nadal booked his spot in the semi-finals of an ATP event for the first time since 2022.
What did a tennis pundit say about Rafael Nadal’s game at the Swedish Open?
Though Nadal was pleased to get the win and continue his Swedish Open campaign, he was unable to deliver a consistent performance.
He began the match with a catalogue of unforced errors, and later failed to serve out the match on two occasions in the final set.
After the game, Peter Ogden pointed out where Nadal went wrong throughout the match and stressed the need for improvement moving forward.
“His tennis is up and down. We saw his forehand disappear midway through that second set, which was very worrying,” the commentator said.
“The backhand wasn’t as sharp as he would like it to be in that first set.” However, Ogden was pleased to see Nadal withstand the physical exertion the match placed on his body.
“The signs are great in terms of his health, his body holding up,” he added. “Four hours of gruelling tennis and no signs of fatigue. So that’s great. It’s just whether he can round out the harder edges.”
Rafael Nadal marches on at the Swedish Open?
Nadal committed an uncharacteristic 42 unforced errors against Navone as he struggled to find consistency. He was 1-4 down in the first set and proceeded to force a tiebreak, but Navone clinched it to move a set ahead.
Nadal then squandered a 3-0 lead in set two before eventually taking it 7-5. He then opened up a 5-2 lead in the deciding frame but missed two chances to serve for the match.
But as Nadal has done so often in the past, he carved out another opportunity to break Navone’s serve at 5-5, and made no mistake with his third chance to win the thrilling encounter.
“I lost for some moments my concentration, but I was able to hold physically until the end,” said Nadal, who raised his arms to the sky with joy on match point, in his on-court interview.
“That is so important for me. Let’s see how I am tomorrow, but today I am alive and in the semi-finals, so that’s very important.”
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