Wilander calls Nadal winning two grand slams this year 'a miracle'

| by Evita Mueller

Rafael Nadal's exit from the US Open in the fourth round prompted Eurosport analyst Mats Wilander to call the Spaniard's two Grand Slam victories this year a "miracle."

Nadal won the Australian Open and French Open before retiring due to injury prior to the Wimbledon semifinals, making it his earliest departure and lone defeat at a major in 2022.

"It looked like Rafa was either a little bit slow, or it could be that it is very difficult to read Frances Tiafoe’s game. When you look at [Nadal's second-round opponent] Fabio Fognini and Tiafoe, both their forehands are hit with an extremely short and quick back swing. We have to remember though that Rafa hasn’t played enough tennis." said Wilander continuing:

“It is a miracle that he has won two Grand Slams this year and reaching the semis at Wimbledon. If you look at his year, with the regular season he had he actually won two Grand Slams – that’s unbelievable. It wasn’t expected, but I think the players know when Rafa isn’t quite at 100 per cent level."

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Alex Corretja, a fellow Eurosport pundit and two-time Grand Slam finalist, thinks Nadal lacked the stamina to defeat a rampaging Tiafoe.

"Honestly, I don’t think physically Rafa was at his best. Somehow, he didn’t have enough energy he needed to get behind the ball and to dictate. He was struggling, he was getting a little late to the ball and when you are playing someone like Tiafoe that is pushing so much, it’s so bad." said Corretja further adding:

"I don’t know if he had any issue or not or just that Tiafoe was just playing too fast and he was uncomfortable. Apparently the humidity at the beginning of the match caused him some troubles, I don’t know whether he was sweating too much, he took a medical time out, but of course I felt like Rafa lacked a little bit of power in a way today.”

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