Rafael Nadal narrowly avoided a nasty collision with a spectator as he was forced to hop into the crowd during his Wimbledon quarter-final match with Juan Martin del Potro.
The two-time champion sprinted at full pelt to chase down an angled smash from his opponent, and was forced to leap over the the barrier between the audience and the court.
After negotiating that barrier, the 32-year-old was forced to do some quick thinking as he narrowly avoided a serious clash of heads with a lady in the crowd as he virtually ended up on her lap.
The supporter seemed pretty delighted to be so up close and personal with one of the greatest players of all time, who went on to win a dramatic five-setter 7-5 6-7 4-6 6-4 6-4 in a match lasting the best part of five hours.
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After the victory, Nadal said: He played well.
I believe I increased little bit the level in the fourth and the fifth. But the fifth, he was playing huge, no? It was so difficult to stop him.
More: Tennis
I am very happy the way that I survived a lot of important points in that fifth set. I think I did a lot of things well. I went to the net.
In general terms, have been a positive match. Only negative thing is I played almost five hours, and I had the chance maybe to play less winning that second set.
For the rest of the things, great news, semifinals of Wimbledon again. Great match, emotional match for both of us and for the fans, too. Great feelings.
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Rafael Nadal narrowly avoided a nasty collision with a spectator as he was forced to hop into the crowd during his Wimbledon quarter-final match with Juan Martin del Potro.
The two-time champion sprinted at full pelt to chase down an angled smash from his opponent, and was forced to leap over the the barrier between the audience and the court.
After negotiating that barrier, the 32-year-old was forced to do some quick thinking as he narrowly avoided a serious clash of heads with a lady in the crowd as he virtually ended up on her lap.
The supporter seemed pretty delighted to be so up close and personal with one of the greatest players of all time, who went on to win a dramatic five-setter 7-5 6-7 4-6 6-4 6-4 in a match lasting the best part of five hours.
Advertisement Advertisement
After the victory, Nadal said: He played well.
I believe I increased little bit the level in the fourth and the fifth. But the fifth, he was playing huge, no? It was so difficult to stop him.
More: Tennis
I am very happy the way that I survived a lot of important points in that fifth set. I think I did a lot of things well. I went to the net.
In general terms, have been a positive match. Only negative thing is I played almost five hours, and I had the chance maybe to play less winning that second set.
For the rest of the things, great news, semifinals of Wimbledon again. Great match, emotional match for both of us and for the fans, too. Great feelings.
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