Top 10 Stories from the 2016 U.S. Open

Sept 4, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Lucas Pouille of France after beating Rafael Nadal of Spain Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

6. Rafael Nadal Loses, Not Impressed in Press Conference

The best match of the tournament may have been the fourth-round bout between Rafael Nadal and rising Frenchman Lucas Pouille. It wasn’t pretty throughout; both guys had rough patches, but both also played a lot of good tennis. After it had gone on four hours, things finally came down to a suspenseful fifth-set tiebreak, where Nadal came back from being down 6-3, but Pouille eventually came thought 8-6. Pouille had already made the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, but this was undisputedly the biggest win of his career.

It was also yet another frustrating loss for Nadal. Not only did he fail to win a slam for the second year in a row, but he hasn’t gotten past the fourth round in over a year. Part of this was because he had to pull out of two of them with injury. But when an athlete who has dominated in the past falters this much, the questions do start. In his typical style, Nadal refused to make excuses, even saying, “is not the time to find excuses,” when the press tried to find them for him. He even got outright angry when one reporter suggested he’d struggled with the pressure. “After winning 14 and being in semifinals a lot of times, you feel that’s pressure?” he snapped. “I’m 30 years old, after having the career that I have, is not a question of pressure.”

It is true that Rafa Nadal doesn’t have much to prove anymore. Whether the anxiety for the rest of his career might have still gotten to him is perhaps the question the reporter should have asked. But likely he would’ve refused that as an excuse too. As it is, he must move on and try to recover yet again. Pouille, who went down to fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils in the next round, will simply look for what’s next from the other end of his career.

Next: Stanislas Wawrinka: Slam Count, Three