Wimbledon: Rafa Nadal made it to the quarter-finals and reached another milestone in his career that only two players have

Rafael Nadal has signed another solid victory on the grass of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, which allowed him to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the eighth time and add a new milestone to his already legendary career. The Spaniard, second favorite of the tournament, won 6-4, 6-2 and 7-6 (8-6) against the Dutch Botic van de Zandschulp21st seeded, and became the third player aged 36 or over to reach that stage of the English Grand Slam in the Open Era.

The Majorcan, who made his debut at the London tournament in 2003, has joined an exclusive club of only two members, Swiss Roger Federer, who has reached the quarter-finals three times after his 36th birthday, and l ‘Australian Ken Rosewallwho received it twice.

Rafa, British Major champion in 2008 and 2010, also added his 309th Grand Slam victory, in which it was his 350th game at that level (amassing a record of 309-41). And he qualified for the quarter-finals for the 47th time in a tournament of this category, in which he has 22 titles and is the biggest all-time winner.

The challenge against van de Zandschulp came at the request of Nadal, except in the closing of the third set, when the Dutchman raised 2-5 against and managed to bring the definition to the tie break. Likewise, in the tie-break, the former world number one affirmed his hierarchy and sealed the victory in two hours and 21 minutes.

“I played 90 percent of the game well,” he commented that he had arrived in London unsure of what he could do in the tournament, after winning the Roland Garros infiltrator, due to the pain caused by his chronic left foot injury. which has given him a lot of headaches in recent seasons.

For this reason, despite the treatment he was subjected to after the “great” Frenchman allowed him to control his discomfort and that his good start in the English field is exciting (he gave up only two sets, one on his debut against Francisco Cerúndolo and another in the second round, against the Lithuanian Ricadas Berankis), does not want to be in a hurry.

“Day after day. It’s always the same here. It’s not about being close to the level or not. I don’t know, I can’t predict what will happen. The good thing is that the first two games didn’t go well. Against Sonego, in the third, I played at a high level for the first time. And in the latter, for most of the game, I was positive. I’m happy with that, “he said.

And he added: “This victory gives me the opportunity to have one more day tomorrow to train and improve things to move forward. The improvement during the tournament is there. I am happy to return to the quarter-finals after two years without playing here.. It’s a positive result for me. “

Nadal last played in London in 2019, when he said goodbye in the semifinals against Federer. In 2020 the tournament was not played due to the coronavirus pandemic and last year the Majorcan decided to leave to take a break, having conquered Roland Garros a couple of weeks earlier.

The last time he did not reach the quarter-finals was in 2017, when he said goodbye to the round of 16 when he fell 15-13 in the fifth set against the Luxembourgish. Gilles Müller.

“I made a lot of effort to be here. It takes a lot of physical and mental effort to play this tournament after how things have happened in the last couple of months. I hadn’t played for two years and I wanted to come back. That’s why it means so much to me to be in the quarterfinals. “, he acknowledged.

“I feel my ball hurts more than at the start of the tournament, it goes faster with the forehand and the backhand. slice it works too. It’s not easy to make the switch, especially after I haven’t played with it for a while. Now is the time to move forward if I want to continue to have opportunities. ”

The Spaniards will now clash with the Americans