«Breaking Pic News» Rafael Nadal hits out at decision to continue Thiem match late into night

Rafael Nadal could feel grateful that it is 48 years since the US Open introduced, uniquely among the Grand Slams, a deciding set tiebreak.

It was already 2.04am and four hours and 49 minutes into the tightest of matches when he finally overcame Dominic Thiem, edging a sudden death shootout to make tomorrow's semi-finals at Flushing Meadows.

Nadal's reward for his late night endeavours is another meeting with Juan Martin Del Potro, against whom he played arguably the best match of Wimbledon when they met in the last eight.

Rafa Nadal (pictured) hit out at the late finish of his US Open game against Dominic Thiem

Nadal (pictured) finally overcame Thiem at 2.04am in their US Open quarter-final clash

It was the middle of the night before the Spaniard could head home after beating Thiem: 'It was a great match, great atmosphere and I was happy to be part of it. But not because it's three in the morning. I am not happy about this,' he said, managing a smile.

Men's tennis has not seen as gruelling a fifth set since Kevin Anderson beat John Isner 26-24 in the Wimbledon semi-final this summer. The residual crowd at Flushing Meadows felt none of the tedium that could be sensed around the Centre Court that Friday evening in July.

It has focused minds at the All England Club – Anderson was toast for the championship match against Novak Djokovic – and a meeting at SW19 later this month is expected to bring in a new rule.

The All England Club's main tennis committee will gather and, according to influential figures there, the most likely outcome is introducing a 12-12 cut-off. Even that seems excessive but Wimbledon will want to maintain a point of difference with other events.

With Court One having a lid in 2019 another discussion point will concern the roof usage after the controversy over Nadal's semi-final. That continued under the roof even when it resumed in decent weather on the Saturday.

Sportsmail understands the likely outcome will be a 'new day' policy, which in the same circumstances will allow matches to finish outdoors rather than with the roof still in place.

The match between Nadal and Thiem could have gone on longer but for a deciding set tiebreak

Lengthy fifth sets naturally attract attention for their drama, although they are rarer than often perceived. Nadal versus Thiem was actually the first deciding set tiebreak among the men to be played here after 122 singles matches, and there have only been three in the women's best-of-three format.

This is the season of high level meetings in tennis, with Grand Slam chiefs coming together at the US Open this week.

Wimbledon will be the most adamant of the four in resisting moves to extend legal coaching during matches, but there is likely to be more agreement on ditching the idea of reducing the number of seeds from 32 to 16.

Not that Nadal will be taking much notice as he prepares to tackle Del Potro. Their five-setter at Wimbledon unfortunately ran concurrent to England's World Cup semi-final against Croatia, but was at least the equal of his two-day match against Djokovic that followed.

Tennis chiefs will now ponder several changes to the other majors as a result

A key for Nadal, who should have beaten Thiem in four sets, has been to manage his various ailments such as his knees, and the groin problem that hindered him in the early part of the season.

'I've had the chance to really appreciate all the things that happened to me during my career because I had in different moments tough injuries,' he said, reeling off his litany of physical problems over his career.

Last night Djokovic was due to play his quarter final against the conqueror of Roger Federer, Australian John Millman.

Jamie Murray angrily hurled threw his racket to the ground after he and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares last night missed out on the chance to make the semi-finals of the doubles event.

The duo had been in good form but were upset 7-5 6-4 by the unseeded partnership of Moldova's Radu Albot and Tunisia's Malek Jaziri.

Murray was due later to play in the semi-finals of the mixed doubles with Bethanie Mattek-Sands against Americans Christina McHale and Christian Harrison.

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https://hienalouca.com/2018/09/05/rafael-nadal-hits-out-at-decision-to-continue-thiem-match-late-into-night/
Main photo article Rafael Nadal could feel grateful that it is 48 years since the US Open introduced, uniquely among the Grand Slams, a deciding set tiebreak.
It was already 2.04am and four hours and 49 minutes into the tightest of matches when he finally overcame Dominic Thiem, edging a sudden death shootout to...

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