Rafael Nadal suffered a shock defeat against his Round of 16 opponent Frances Tiafoe in the ongoing US Open. With this win, Frances became the first American Man to reach the quarterfinals of the US Open since John Isner in 2018.
This is the third time Tiafoe has defeated someone within the Top 5 ATP rankings. Frances stunned Nadal in a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to reach his second grand slam quarterfinals match.
The 24-year-old was extremely energetic and pumped up throughout the three-hour 31 minutes match, which overshadowed Nadal’s experience and winning spirit.
The biggest win of his life.
Soak this in, @FTiafoe 👏@usopen | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/nD5f7zBxDx— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 6, 2022
He was hammering the tennis ball through both the side of the wings and he also rallied a breakdown in the fourth set to get his victory. He was very happy with this win and in the post-match interview he said,
“I’m beyond happy, almost in tears, I can’t believe it,”
“I played unbelievable tennis today. I really don’t know what happened.”
“At 4-3 [in the fourth set], when I went up 40/0, my legs were like cement, I just needed to get out of the game and then pray to god that I don’t have to serve for it.”
He further said that he did not come out on the court to give Nadal all the respect but instead he had come out here to win the match in front of his home crowd.
Rafael Nadal suffers his first defeat in a major title match this year
This is the first time that Nadal has lost a game in a major title tournament. He won the Australian Open title by defeating Daniil Medvedev and also won the French Open title.
He did not lose a single match in Wimbledon since he was forced to withdraw from the semifinals against Nick Kyrgios due to an abdominal tear. Tiafoe stunned Nadal and handed him his first loss in a major title of the season. Tiafoe will now face Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals of the US Open.
Rafael Nadal’s hope of clinching his fifth US Open title, world no.1 rank and 23rd Grand Slam has now been shattered.
