Juan Martin del Potro tops former champion Rafael Nadal in Olympic semifinal

Rafa Nadal y Marc López ganan Medalla de ORO en la Final de Dobles Masculina en RIO

Rafael Nadal"s bid for an unprecedented second Olympic singles gold medal ended with a thrill-a-minute semifinal loss to the resurgent Juan Martin del Potro.

Del Potro, who earned a bronze for Argentina four years ago, will add a silver or gold to that after advancing to the Rio de Janeiro Games final by coming back to stun the third-seeded Nadal 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (5) on Saturday.

Using the same ferocious forehands that carried him past No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the first round a week ago, del Potro now will try to pull off a third surprise on Sunday, when he meets defending champion Andy Murray in the best-of-five-set final.

The No. 2-seeded Murray earned a gold in singles and a silver in mixed doubles for Britain at the 2012 London Games.

No tennis player has won two Olympic singles golds, let alone two in a row.

"It would mean a lot, obviously," Murray said after beating fourth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-1, 6-4 to stretch his winning streak to a career-high-tying 17 matches. "It"s obviously not an easy thing to do. That"s why it"s not been done before."

Standing in Murray"s way now will be del Potro, who won the 2009 U.S. Open but has fallen to 141st in the rankings after missing 2 years" worth of Grand Slam tournaments because of three operations on his left wrist.

He beat two-time major title winner Stan Wawrinka at Wimbledon in June, then used all of his 6-foot-6 frame to produce intimidating forehand after forehand that Djokovic couldn"t fend off a week ago. That same formula worked against Nadal, with 18 of del Potro"s 19 groundstroke winners coming off his preferred wing.

It"s been a tough road back for del Potro, who got down on his back, spread-eagle, near the Olympic logo after the riveting semifinal ended with Nadal sailing a forehand wide. Moments later, del Potro knelt down and kissed the dot atop the middle letter of "Rio" near the five rings.

Del Potro"s celebration wasn"t finished: He leaped into the front row of stands for a group hug with some of the thousands of flag-waving, name-chanting fans who rooted so vociferously for their man.

Nadal, a 14-time Grand Slam champion, earned the singles gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games, and added a doubles gold on Friday night, teaming with his good pal Marc Lopez. But instead of another medal of that color, he will be trying to go home with a bronze now by beating Nishikori on Sunday not bad, considering he missed 2 months with an injured left wrist.

Associated Press

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/international/ct-juan-martin-del-potro-rafael-nadal-olympics-semifinal-20160813-story.html

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Andy Murray reveals he knew about Rafael Nadal"s wrist injury while the duo were practising ahead of the French Open

Rafael Nadal - Fallen Emperor ᴴᴰ

• Rafael Nadal could have permanently damaged wrist by continuing to play
• Andy Murray said that it was a shame for the fans that Nadal pulled out
• Nadal had only lost nine games in the first two roundsof the French Open
• John McEnroe added that the fourth seed pulling out was disappointing

ByMartyn Herman, Reuters

Published: 06:54 EST, 28 May 2016 | Updated: 06:54 EST, 28 May 2016

Andy Murray knew nine-times French Open champion Rafael Nadal was struggling with a wrist injury when he practised with the Spaniard during the build-up to Roland Garros.

Fourth seed Nadal, who will be 30 next week, stunned the tournament on Friday when he announced he was pulling out despite dropping only nine games in his first two rounds.

He said the problem was with a tendon in his left wrist and that scans had shown he was in danger of a serious injury if he did not stop playing.

Fourth seed Rafael Nadal stunned the tournament when he pulled out of the French Open due to a wrist injury

Andy Murray revealed that he knew about Nadal"s injury in the build-up to the tournament while the duo trained

NADAL"S FRENCH OPEN RECORD

2005 - win

2006 - win

2007 - win

2008 - win

2009 - fourth round

2010 - win

2011 - win

2012 - win

2013 - win

2014 - win

2015 - quarter-final

2016 - third round

"I practised a bit with him last week and I knew there were some issues with the wrist," world number two Murray, who is through to the last 16 in Paris told Eurosport.

"He"s won this nine times and was playing really well so for him to withdraw from the tournament, it would have to be a pretty serious injury. It"s a great shame for Rafa and the fans and a shame for the tournament."

Nadal"s withdrawal was a huge blow to the tournament as he had been expected to face world number one Novak Djokovic in the semi-final, having lost to the Serb in the quarters last year.

Seven-times grand slam champion John McEnroe called Nadal"s latest injury "extremely disappointing".

"We"ve seen him play for many years and it"s always been a concern about how his knees would hold up," the American told Eurosport.

"After last year, we all hoped he would be able to get his health and fitness back and get his game together and it looked like that was happening.

Nadal suffered from problems in the tendons in his wrist and could have risked permanent damage by playing

"We all know how much he wanted (title) number 10 and we were looking forward to seeing play Novak in the semis."

Former French Open champion Mats Wilander said the decision had been a no-brainer for Nadal.

"A slight miss-hit and that"s going to hurt like crazy," the Swede said.

"He"s turning 30 in a few days and still has two or three years left so this was an obvious decision."

The 29-year-old had only dropped nine games in the first two rounds of the competition ahead of pulling out

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Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-3613998/Andy-Murray-reveals-knew-Rafael-Nadal-s-wrist-injury-duo-practising-ahead-French-Open.html

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