Rafael Nadal forced to retire from Miami Open after 'feeling dizzy'
Sunday 27 March 2016 08:57, UK
Rafael Nadal has been knocked out of the Miami Open, after being forced to retire from his second round match against little-known Bosnian Damir Dzumhur.
After slipping 3-0 behind in the deciding set, Nadal required medical treatment before deciding to call it a day after 109 minutes on court.
The Spaniard said he started 'feeling dizzy' towards the end of the first set and later withdrew claiming he was 'too scared' to continue.
However, the No 5 seed appeared to be cruising during the early stages of the contest as he raced through the opening set, which he took 6-2 in just 44 minutes.
Dzumhur, who was broken twice during the set, did not help his own cause by sending down five double faults while the 29-year-old from Mallorca conceded just five points from his four service games.
But everything was to change dramatically after that, with Nadal losing his serve twice during the second set which his 23-year-old opponent claimed 6-4 in temperatures close to 90 degrees.
And after Nadal had suffered two more breaks early in the decider, and slipped 15-30 down in game four, the 14-time Grand Slam champion disconsolately shook hands with the delighted Dzumhur.
It had been 443 matches and six years since Nadal last retired on the ATP Tour, when he was beaten in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open by Andy Murray.
Nadal admitted: "Everything was fine until the end of the first set and I started to feel not very good. It was getting worse and worse and worse.
"I get a little bit scared to be too dizzy and to lose fluids. I called the doctor a couple of times. I decided I was not safe. I wanted to finish the match but I decided I would not.
"Hopefully it's nothing. Hopefully it's just the extreme conditions out there, the beginning of a virus combined with the conditions."
Nadal, a four-time Miami finalist but never a champion, lost 22 of the last 29 points on the Stadium Court.
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