It seemed like an innocuous match up, as Gilles Muller had lost 22 matches against top 5 players. He clearly wasn’t a big match player, and rightly so, he was given no chance of beating the mighty Rafa Nadal.
But funnier things have happened in sport.What transpired on Court Number 1 today was beautiful, hurtful for Nadal fans, but beautiful for the sport of tennis. A 34-year old, in the twilight of his career, never having been known for his killer instinct on the big stage, upstaging one of the fiercest competitors in the sport.
The fifth set went on for more than 2 hours and while it was completely dominated by Gilles Muller, it always felt like Nadal would eventually find his way through. A 2 set lead given away, 5 match points squandered; it all seemed like the perfect script for a Rafa Nadal comeback, but Muller refused to step aside. He wanted his moment, bad, real bad; and he took it from Nadal, hands down.
This is how Twitter reacted:
https://twitter.com/annekeothavong/status/884497298893438978
https://twitter.com/Hachemjoe/status/884497100704145409
https://twitter.com/eaglemoustache/status/884493548414005249
https://twitter.com/julietbawuah/status/884492544385712132