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Thoughts on Wimbledon Day 5: Rafael Nadal powers into fourth round

  What a difference a year makes for Rafael Nadal, who advanced to the fourth round at Wimbledon 2017.
Jon Wertheim|
Thoughts on Wimbledon Day 5: Rafael Nadal powers into fourth round
Thoughts on Wimbledon Day 5: Rafael Nadal powers into fourth round

LONDON – A year ago here, the tennis world pondered the demise of Rafael Nadal.

The Spaniard hadn’t won a major title since 2014. He had just turned 30. He had lost in the first round of the 2016 Australian Open. At the French Open—his clay playground—he had withdrawn with a wrist injury. All that physical tennis was finally exacting its price, it seemed.

Well, here we are a year later and Nadal is doing a convincing impersonation of a top player at the peak of his power. He won his 29th consecutive set in Grand Slam play on Friday, beating Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-1, 6-4, 7-6. Nadal is moving well, zinging his shots, hitting his second serve over 100 miles an hour.

Suddenly, everything is turning up Rafa. If he makes the final, he can surpass Andy Murray as World No. 1. But first—Gilles Muller, the hard-serving Luxembourgian, in the fourth round. (Though if we’re being honest: which Luxembourgians don’t serve hard?)

Read on for more thoughts on third round play on Friday on Wimbledon Day 5.

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Jon Wertheim
JON WERTHEIM

Jon Wertheim is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and has been part of the full-time SI writing staff since 1997, largely focusing on the tennis beat, sports business and social issues, and enterprise journalism. In addition to his work at SI, he is a correspondent for “60 Minutes” and a commentator for The Tennis Channel. He has authored 11 books and has been honored with two Emmys, numerous writing and investigative journalism awards, and the Eugene Scott Award from the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Wertheim is a longtime member of the New York Bar Association (retired), the International Tennis Writers Association and the Writers Guild of America. He has a bachelor’s in history from Yale University and received a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He resides in New York City and Paris with his wife, who is a divorce mediator and adjunct law professor. They have two children.

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