Show only key events Otherwise and sadly that’s the end of day 10, and it’s been another absolute jazzer, so thanks for hanging out. check back here or on the website for the Fritz v Nadal report, which is coming up, and see you tomorrow! Irene. We’re pretty much done here, but that doesn’t mean we’ve run out of great sport. if you’re not already there, catch Gregg Bakowski for the start of Euro 2022. Oof Madone, these past two days have been special. I mentioned yesterday that the tournament hadn’t really been involved, but the intensity of the quarters took it somewhere entirely new, the mix of legacy-building goats and voracious pretenders stirring every possible emotion. Tomorrow, from 1.30 p.m. BST, we have: Ons Jabeur [3] v Tatiana Maria Elena Rybakina [17] to Simona Halep [16] Then on Friday we have: novak djokovic [1] vs. Cameron Norrie [9] Nick Kyrgios – Rafael Nadal [2] I can not wait. “I really like playing these kinds of matches,” Nadal says. I bet. The joy of competing in such an intense environment should be like no other. He congratulates Fritz and thinks his body is fine, but “something in the belly is wrong” and for a while he thought he might not finish the race. He thanked the crowd and prompted them to remember the 2008 final, 14 years ago today, he can’t believe it’s still here in 2022. As for the semi-final, he hopes he’s fit to play, he acknowledges Kyrgios is a good player, especially on grass, then he takes his leave. What an absurd man he is, how privileged are we to watch him struggle? Updated at 7.40pm BST Almost for the first time we see emotion from Fritz, who drags his physical life, head bowed and tears at the edges of his irises. But like Jannik Sinner, he went to court a boy and came out a grown man. his life changed out there, and I can’t wait to see how he goes from here.
Rafael Nadal [2] beats Taylor Fritz 3-6 7-5 3-6 7-5 7-6(4)!
What a pair of heroes! This was a brilliant match, the epitome of tennis and the grand slam is underway! Nadal is in the last four where he will meet Kyrgios and Fritz has arrived as a player! Well played lads, well played! Rafael Nadal applauds the audience of the Center. Photo: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian Updated at 19.44 BST Fritz saves the first but the next one is on Nadal’s serve… Fritz 4-9 Nadal RAFAEL NANDAL! RAFAEL NANDAL! RAFAEL NANDAL! He has such competitive courage and charisma that he absolutely stands out regardless of the delicacy of the situation! He had six match points! Fritz 3-9 Nadal And here is our picture! A wild rumble of a rally, Nadal back, then dredges up another wicked forehand, backing it up with a rich volley, and stands alone at the net, Fritz sprawled on the floor. After serving, the ball catches the line and bounces under Fritz’s racket, and that’s almost done! Fritz 3-8 Nadal The noggin on Taylor Fritz! He wins the next point on Nadal’s serve and if he can take the two on his own, he’ll be back at it! Down sticks an ace, wide and onto a stamp, and is good on the next rally as well before he backhands! Drama here! You want to grab anyone who isn’t watching by the lapel and ask what the heck is going on with them! Fritz 3-6 Nadal Nadal prepares to serve at 5-0, but the world moves in his eye and stops. the atmosphere intensifies when that seems impossible, and Fritz jumps in a second serve before running to serve. He badly needs the next point, again on Nadal’s serve. Fritz 1-5 Nadal Updated at 7.25pm BST Oh, Taylor! Oohhh maaaaat! He scrambles to get a dribble, changes his grip on the fly… and then nets! Almost for the first time today we see the desperation on his face and when he scores again, it’s halfway home. Oh, Taylor! Sports are brutal. Fritz 0-5 Nadal A brilliant forehand from Nadal, whose stomach looks fine now, wins Fritz’s desperate dive and earns him an instant mini-break. quickly steadies, Fritz slips during the 3-0 point and pops up in time to see Nadal play a superb backhand winner. Fritz 0-3 Nadal But before we go on, let’s note our awe at the efforts of both of these men. they are excellent. Nadal opens with an excellent delivery on the T, clearing with a wrong foot in the corner. makes it 30-0 when Fritz goes wide. A swinging serve, again down the T, pretty much settles the next point, and another on the other side, but aimed at roughly the same area, means we have the 10-point tiebreaker! Updated at 19.19 BST At no point in this fight did Fritz look rattled, never too high or too low. If you offered him 6-6 in the fifth before the match I’m sure he would have taken it and the way he attacks that last serve is no different to the way he attacked the first and everything in between. He finishes with an ace down the middle for 6-5, and Nadal now has to hold a 10-point tiebreak! A break and Fritz is there, but Nadal volleys over the net for 15-0 – he’s scarily focused – only for Fritz to find another beautiful angle, a slanting backhand that breaks down the sideline. Nadal responds with a service winner for 30-15, Fritz lands a return and Nadal smashes a forehand then puts the point away at the third time of asking. We’re 5-5 going into the decider, and we’re one game away from a super bowler. My fingers are shaking. This is ridiculously absorbing, and from 30-0 two errors from Fritz brought Nadal into the game. But then he finds a lovely backhand angle on the forehand … only for Nadal to unleash two more vicious forehands, opening the court for a drop volley and a deuce. So Fritz responds with a serve out, almost misses with his put-away, grins from close range, then closes! He leads 5-4 in the fifth, and I have no idea who’s going to win it. OH MY DAYS! Nadal hit back, and Fritz hit back! He has the temperament of a sniper! We return tied in the fifth with 4-4! Fritz will feel his face melting as he contemplates the devastating misery that awaits him – the second serve that Nadal just attacked was the slowest of the match. But he forced his share of breaks this afternoon, and when Nadal unexpectedly hits a backhand volley for 15-all, he can see a glimmer. And what a shot he finds next, smashing a forehand into the corner and then following through and playing a half volley, half spin shot for 15-30. Nadal, however, has seen it all before, his serve speed back to where you’d expect it to be… except at 30 he plays a promising drop that Fritz takes full advantage of and earns a straight break point -back to 3-4 30-40! Taylor Fritz returns to Rafael Nadal. Photo: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian Updated at 7.30pm BST CAN NOT! From the depths of his black champion’s soul, Nadal lifts a devilish forehand, inside-out in the forehand corner, meets Fritz’s brave response with the strongest volleys, and leads 4-3 in the fifth! Again, Fritz hammers forward with a nail serve, but again gets in his own way, sending a backhand wide. I feel the match might be here – of course it isn’t – but when Nadal fires off a string of forehands on the backhand corner and down the middle, he raises another break point. Can Fritz answer again? Nadal, however, is not to be challenged as he volleys away for advantage … only for Fritz to respond with a serve out that sets up the easy volley. She has stones the size of Scylla and Charybdis, but she has game points up, forehands, so we go back to the duo. A terrific serve saves the first break point – again, Fritz’s ability to hold it under pressure is fantastic – and then an error lands on Nadal’s baseline, before a forehand at the net cable climbs a bit over and over. other side for two! Nadal nets for 0-15, then finds a terrible drop, bouncing near the sideline and drifting away, for 0-30. This is genius, both in concept and execution – it must have the resting heartbeat of a corpse – but Fritz responds very well, only to step in and score a volley to make it 15-40. Here you go! Updated at 18.48 BST You have to laugh: Nadal takes a net dribble into a winner, so he raises both hands in apology. he looks disappointed for Fritz, he really does. He quickly turns his fortunes around to 30-0, but Fritz sticks with him and at 40-30, he applies a little pressure … which turns into more when Nadal overhits a topspin forehand! To cheat we go, and two errors from Fritz surrender the game. 3-3, final set. Fritz, though, makes it, an ace followed by a service winner that secures a love hold for 3-2. The way he put away the frustration of stealing both the second and fourth sets will stay with me. we should all know such equality and perspective. This is the best Nadal has played since the first three games, of course it is. At 30-0, he fumbles a cross-court backhand and follows it up with a service winner, holding at love for 2-2. Nadal is like Ready Brek’s kid here. At 30-15, Fritz runs around the backhand for a forehand down the line but misses long … then nets a backhand and suddenly Nadal has a sniff. Or maybe it was just a twitch, because Fritz hits an ace out, the return takes too long, and that’s 2-1 Fritz! A fifth set against Nadal in the Wimbledon quarter-finals – he must be loving life, but his demeanor is cold. Fritz takes 0-15, but when he tries a drop – logical, given Nadal’s injury – Nadal immediately chases and makes a great response that’s good enough for 15-all. Nadal is really feeling this, dictating the next rally from the back before hitting a measured forehand down the line for another winner – you can tell by the look on his face and the way he shoots that he’s absolutely…
