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US Open 2022: Rafael Nadal stunned by Frances Tiafoe in pre-quarters; Twitter staggered

Rafael Nadal’s bid for his 23rd Grand Slam title ended Tuesday morning after suffering a pre-quarters loss to Frances Tiafoe in the 2022 US Open. Consequently, Twitter was staggered by the same.

tennis US Open 2022: Rafael Nadal stunned by Frances Tiafoe in pre-quarters; Twitter staggered-ayh
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First Published Sep 6, 2022, 12:18 PM IST

It was another upset at the US Open 2022. On Tuesday morning, record 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal of Spain suffered a loss in the pre-quarters to Frances Tiafoe of the United States of America (USA) at the Arthur Ashe Stadium on the Flushing Meadows in New York. It was a four settler, where the American won 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, thus sealing his place in the quarters for the second time. The match lasted three hours and 31 minutes, as it happened to be Tiafoe’s third career win over a top-five player. He was too good for Nadal on both wings as he became the first American to reach the quarters since John Isner in 2018 and the youngest since Andy Roddick in 2006. It was also the most significant win by an American since James Blake had beaten the then-second-ranked Spaniard in 2005.

During the post-match interview, Tiafoe was shocked as he said, “I’m beyond happy, almost in tears, I can’t believe it. I played unbelievable tennis today. I don’t know what happened. At 4-3 [fourth set], my legs were like cement when I went up 40-0. I just needed to get out of the game and then pray to god that I don’t have to serve for it. I was lucky enough to get out of that game. I came out not giving Rafa all the respect. I came out to win a tennis match in front of you guys.”

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In comparison, Nadal gave no excuses following his ouster and supposed, “We can make lamentations, or we can complain now about a lot of things, but I don’t think that [is] going to change any situation. We can think, if I [didn’t] get injured, maybe I [could have] won Wimbledon. Maybe, I [culd have] won things [in] the past. Or maybe, I [could have] lost things because I could not create this interior power after all that injuries.”

“Tennis is a sport of position a lot of times. If not, you need to be very, very quick and young. I am not in that moment anymore. My shots needed to be better. In some way, my understanding of the game and the quality of my shots were not good enough, were poor, I think I have to say today, because I was not able to create that much [vs] him,” concluded Nadal.

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