Rafael Nadal has made it to the Wimbledon final round for the fourth time in his career, which also marks his fourth appearance in the tournament.
The Spaniard defeated Andy Murray, who is currently ranked as the No. 4 seed in the tournament in a 6-4, 7-6(6), 6-4 match on Friday. The victory placed Nadal one more victory closer to his second Wimbledon title, which would also be his eight Grand Slam championship title.
Nadal played his best and was as relentless as he could be, hitting top-spinning forehands from one corner of the court to the other. After the match, he stands as the favorite player going against Tomas Berdych from the Czech Republic, who currently ranks as 12th seed. Berdych had to overcome Novak Djokovic in a 6-3, 7-6(9), 6-3 game in order to reach his very first title match for a Grand Slam tournament.
Regarding his victory against Murray, Nadal said, “For me, it was an amazing day, very important victory for me, one of the more difficult victories of my career… I think it’s one of the biggest victories in my career.”
Nadal had squashed Murray’s aspirations of becoming the very first Brit to win the Wimbledon Men’s title since 1936, when Fred Perry was victorious.
“For Andy it was important playing at home in Wimbledon… That was a little bit more pressure than usual. But Andy’s a very, very nice person and a very, very nice guy and I wish him the best of luck,” adds Nadal.