Wimbledon: Nadal Gets His Payback
It was déjà vu all over again. Rafael Nadal was a solitary point away from falling behind by two sets, but rallied to avenge his loss to the same player who knocked him out of Wimbledon in the previous year.
Yahoo! Sports reported Nadal came from behind to snatch the second round win from Lukas Rosol and moved on to the third round of the tournament. Rosol was in control early but the Spaniard used his experience and perseverance to register a 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4, 6-4 victory.
Staring a 5-6 deficit in the second set after losing the first set 4-6, Nadal ripped a forehand winner to erase the set point. He did himself in with two double faults later to surrender the second set to Nadal. That proved to be the turning point as the two-time champion did not look back and took the next two sets and the match.
"The difference maybe is one point," the two-time champion said.
"Maybe if I lose that set point in the second set, if that forehand down the line went out, maybe (I) will be here with a loss. But that's the sport. That forehand was a perfect forehand for that moment."
In 2012, Rosol shocked Nadal in five sets in the same round in Wimbledon. While Nadal declared he was not out to avenge the defeat, he was visibly motivated to come out atop by the way he shouted his patented "Vamos!" coupled with his pumped fists celebrations.
Nadal is participating in the Wimbledon just weeks removed from winning the French Open but his comfort with grass has long been documented. He was upset in the first round last year by Steve Darcis and bowed to Dustin Brown in a grass-court warm up in Germany two weeks ago. This was on top of the 2012 upset he suffered to the 6-foot-5 Czech.
The same scenario was in danger of playing out again. Rosol went ahead 5-4 in the second set with a chance to serve out the tiebreaker in the next two points. Nadal won the next point with Rosol missing a low half volley return but retaliated by serving an ace in the next point going ahead again 6-5.
Nadal came up with the equalizer with a forehand winner to make it 6-6 then Rosol missed a return on the next point while double faulted the next to give the set to the Spaniard. From there, Nadal found his groove and finished the matched comfortable, displaying the form and power serves and returns.