Rafael Nadal yesterday overcame both an ankle injury and a truly formidable opponent to extend his Wimbledon winning streak to 18 matches and reach the quarter-finals, where he will meet the tenth seed, American Mardy Fish. The defending champion beat the towering Argentinian Juan Martin Del Potro 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 in an enthralling and incident-packed contest, the ominous skies overhead matched by the mood on Centre Court, especially when it seemed as if Nadal might be unable to continue.After a lengthy medical time-out in the first set, however, the Majorcan seemed confident that he could rely on his heavily-strapped left foot – on which he will have an MRI scan today – and clinched the tiebreaker having trailed 0-3. But his opponent, angry both to have been made to wait for so long and to have conceded the tiebreaker with a double-fault, played thunderously in the second set, becoming the first man all tournament to take a set off Nadal.He is also the first, and only, man to defeat both Nadal and Roger Federer in the same Grand Slam, which he did en route to winning the US Open in 2009. Del Potro has suffered grievous injury problems since then, requiring surgery on damaged right wrist tendons and missing almost the whole of last year, but nevertheless entered this contest with the swagger of a former Grand Slam champion. From the first exchanges there was plainly no sense of inferiority in the No 24 seed, who after all has climbed as high as world No 4, and in eight previous encounters with the world No 1 lagged only 3-5.
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MELBOURNE: Rafael Nadal is looking to put behind him the despair of missing a cherished 'Rafa Slam' and recover from his Australian Open injury setback to again rule men's tennis.The world number one was in tears late in his injury-ruined quarterfinal on Wednesday with Spanish friend David Ferrer as he realised his quest for a fourth straight non-calendar year Grand Slam victory was over.Although he refused to dwell on the injury out of respect for Ferrer's unexpectedly easy 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 victory, he told Spanish reporters that he may have torn a muscle during the match.Nadal sought a medical timeout after a fiercely-contested second game of the match when his serve was broken following a marathon 22 points.When he reappeared on Rod Laver Arena his upper left thigh was bandaged and there were reports that he had a hamstring injury.But Nadal gave away few details at his post-match news conference, out of deference for close friend Ferrer who now faces a semifinal with last year's runner-up Andy Murray on Friday.By a quirk of fate, Nadal also pulled out of last year's quarterfinal with Murray with knee trouble on the same Australia Day national holiday in his only other injury retirement at a Grand Slam.Although the severity of his injury is not known, Nadal faced questions last year about his playing future when the knee tendinitis kept him off the tour until March.He went on to string together the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open crowns and came to Melbourne looking to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to own all four Grand Slam titles at the same time.An emotional Nadal was able to put a positive slant on his latest problem, after last year's astonishing run when he became the youngest player in the Open era at 24 to complete a career Grand Slam."Last year I had a fantastic year," Nadal said. "Last year in the beginning I had problems, too, and finally it was the best season of my career."I think is almost impossible to repeat that. I had really good moments and at the same time some really negative moments."So this is one of bad ones, one of the negative moments. That's part of the sport. I think I am a very lucky sportsman to have what has happened in my career."And I have to accept the fantastic moments that I've had during the years the same way as when I have problems."If I am ready to accept both the highs and lows as the same, then I am going to be able to come back and play my best tennis again."Nadal has entered the Indian Wells tournament in California from March 7-20 along with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.But straight after his match Nadal said he was not sure when he would next appear on the ATP Tour."I don't know yet. I have to think a little bit about everything and we will see what's going on in the next weeks," he said.Nadal said he hated injury retirements and had sour memories of his Australia Day pull-out at last year's Australian Open."I hate the retirements. I did it here last year. I hate that moment. I didn't want to repeat that," he said.Read more:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/events-tournaments/australian-open-2011/top-stories/Injured-Nadal-aims-for-quick-recovery/articleshow/7369764.cms#ixzz1CCkulcVL
