"It is a miracle that he has won two Grand Slams this year" says Wilander on Nadal

After losing in the fourth round of the US Open to Frances Tiafoe, Rafael Nadal has had a number of critics. Mats Wilander in particular said it was a 'miracle' that Nadal won two Grand Slam's this season.

“It is a miracle that he has won two Grand Slams this year and reaching the semis at Wimbledon. If you look at his year, with the regular season he had he actually won two Grand Slams – that’s unbelievable. It wasn’t expected, but I think the players know when Rafa isn’t quite at 100 per cent level."

Two time Grand Slam champion Alex Corretja followed up with his opinion also,

"Honestly, I don’t think physically Rafa was at his best,” said Corretja. “Somehow, he didn’t have enough energy he needed to get behind the ball and to dictate. He was struggling, he was getting a little late to the ball and when you are playing someone like Tiafoe that is pushing so much, it’s so bad."

“For me, it was a miracle that Rafa was able to win in Australia and at Roland-Garros so what can we say? He’s our icon, he’s the best example of our sport, and if he lost today, Frances needed to play unbelievable because he gave everything he had."

After his fourth round exit Nadal still has a strong chance of still being World No.1 however it depends on Alcaraz and Casper Ruud's progress in the US Open.

Corretja also added,

“In my opinion, Rafa now needs to think about what he wants for the future because we are at the beginning of September, finishing number one is important but he might save energy. I don’t think he’ll play more than two or three tournaments for the rest of the year.