The tours have been back on grass for five days now and it took that long for Rafael Nadal to almost redline in Queens when he went down to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-7 6-4 6-1 in the quarters. Give credit to Nadal for honoring his commitment by contesting Queens after an exhaustive title run to the RG final but really, was it a wise idea to play.
“Probably after losing the second set mentally I lost my concentration,” he said. “The negative thing is I lost; the positive thing is I have few days off and can stop a little bit mentally. I can be a little bit more relaxed, because every day I play with pressure. “That’s what happened for me the last four months every day.”
Tsonga will face British wildcard James Ward who took down defending champion Sam Querrey 3-6 6-3 6-4 and then France