Rafael Nadal waves goodbye to the crowd after getting eliminated in the quarterfinal of the Australian Open. (Getty Images)
World No.1 Rafael Nadal was eliminated from the Australian Open tournament by Dominic Thiem after four hours and 13 minutes of a grueling quarterfinal match to set up a match against German Alexander Zverev.
The Austrian beat the number 19-time Grand Slam winner 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 in one of the most exhausting matches of the tournament.
Thus ended Nadal’s hopes of a second Australian Open title having won the last and his only one 11 years ago, back in 2009.
The fifth-seeded Austrian is still behind the Spaniard on terms of head-to-head encounters, with the score still 9-5 in favour of Nadal. However, he has reduced the gap by four after emerging victorious in Australia.
The 26-year old Thiem has never won a Grand Slam tournament so far with his best-ever performances so far being a two-time appearance in the final of Roland Garros- once in 2018 and the other in 2019, which he had lost to Nadal.
Nadal’s journey so far
Among all the Grand Slams, the Australian Open still continues to elude Nadal as he still finds it difficult to break the deadlock having won every other Slam event at least twice.
Nadal looked like one of the best contenders for the title after some superb show en route to his quarterfinal clash.
He had overcome challenges from Hugo Dellien, Federico Delbonis, and fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in the first, second and third round respectively before setting up an epic clash with Nick Kyrgios in the fourth round.
Nadal’s looked solid in his win against local boy Kyrgios and was the clear favourite on paper against Thiem. However, the younger player sprung a surprise knocking Nadal off the first major Grand Slam tournament of the year.
Nadal’s loss created a ripple in twitter with many fans and users expressing their disappointment in seeing one of the world’s best tennis players exit the ongoing tournament. Here are a few:
Follow our dedicated Tennis page for instant Tennis news and updates
