Rafael Nadal crashes out of Wimbledon after titanic five-setter against Gilles Muller

Rafael Nadal was knocked out of Wimbledon tonight losing a remarkable match to Gilles Muller 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13. The whole match lasted 12 minutes short of five hours, but the final set itself contained more drama, and more actual tennis, than many matches this tournament.

It lasted for two and a quarter hours, an epic in its own right. Muller earned then blew two match points in the 10th game of the set, another two in the 20th before finally winning it in the 28th. That game was the first break of a set that looked like it might continue long into tomorrow.

It was a thrilling contest even before the fifth set started, Muller having taken the first two against an unfocused Nadal in just 33 minutes, breaking him in the first game of the match. The second went the same way. “When you play against this kind of player,” Nadal said, “you cannot make mistakes. That is what I did. It is so difficult to come back after being two sets down.”

Nadal, staring down the barrel of a straight-sets exit then rallied, winning the third set, rediscovering his power and reinvigorating the crowd. Then he stormed to the fourth and it felt as if Muller’s time had passed.

So could Nadal’s momentum take him all the way through? Not so fast. Muller found far more resilience than anyone expected, telling himself “just hang in there and you’ll get your chances.” So the fifth went rigorously with serve, Muller then Nadal, Muller then Nadal, for its first nine games without even the threat of a break. As if Nadal had lost some of his edge and drive that had propelled him level.

When Nadal served to stay in the match at 5-4 down, he lost focus again and all of a sudden Muller had two match points, which Nadal had just enough power to save.

Serve took over again and when Nadal had the momentum at 9-9 after a strong hold, he had his only real opening to get ahead in the whole set. The 19th game of the set was the best yet, as Nadal forced four break points, but Muller saved them all. “I had some important break points,” Nadal sighed afterwards. “These kind of break points are almost match points.” Nadal never got closer to winning again.

The next game, the 20th, was even better than the last, as Muller forced a third match point then a fourth, both of which Nadal saved. Nadal eventually got back to 10-10 with a remarkable low flick. Muller said afterwards it “was not easy to keep believing” after missing his fourth match point.

The next seven games all went with serve as the players tired, the fifth set moved into its third hour, and the matchapproached its sixth. But in the 28th game Nadal’s levels finally started to drop, he miscued a return from the baseline, giving Muller a fifth match point. This one Nadal could not save, as he overhit it, giving the set to Muller 15-13. “I put everything on the court, I played with all my passion”, Nadal said. “I fought until the last ball.”