Fernando Verdasco was on his back in the clay and stared at the sky, seemingly mired in the same disbelief as the Madrid crowd at an utterly improbable victory over nemesis Rafael Nadal. When he got up, he was crying. It’s the level of emotion that’s normally reserved for a tournament victory, but you can’t begrudge Verdasco his moment, one that must have felt like a miracle on blue clay: His first victory over Nadal in 14 attempts, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.
Undeniably, this was the worst performance Nadal has put in this year. That the King of Clay should lose having led a reeling opponent by a double break (5-2) in the third set is bizarre, no less than the frequency with which he mistimed and framed the ball in the course of making 38 errors for the match.
But Verdasco’s play should not be overlooked. A spectacular slapped forehand on the stretch while breaking Nadal to love in the favorite’s first service game announced Verdasco's intentions, and although he handed that break back with a double fault, it heralded a set in which he did the simple things well. Verdasco went after his first serve to set up an early strike with his fearsome forehand, and returned consistently deep, constantly surprising Nadal by going back behind him. Nadal looked slightly shell-shocked as Verdasco served out the first set he has taken from Rafa on clay to love, sealing it with an ace.
It looked, however, as if that was the biggest career milestone Verdasco would achieve today, as Nadal regrouped in the second set. Serving much better, playing more aggressively, and willing to use his less-comfortable backhand down the line occasionally, Nadal broke service twice as Verdasco started to wobble more and more—a hat-trick of double faults when serving down 4-1 was a particularly ominous sign. By the time Nadal held for 1-1 in the third set, it appeared as if Verdasco had utterly come apart mentally, berating himself and doing a petulant shuffle in the clay to demonstrate his difficulties moving on it. Nobody was surprised when Verdasco’s forehand broke down in the next game before being broken himself.
The tale started to twist as Nadal served for 4-1. Broken after a couple of loose forehands, Nadal nonetheless broke back immediately to serve for the match at 5-2, only to put an eye-wateringly bad smash in the net at 15-15 and then give up wild forehand errors to be broken again. Showing the kind of mental resilience he is justly not famed for to claw his way out of a familiar pit of negativity, Verdasco held to 15 with one of his best service games of the match, then broke Nadal to love as the defending finalist served for the match yet again. It was now 5-5.
As the match passed the three-hour mark and became less about tactics than who could string two points together, it was Verdasco who stepped up to the plate. With Nadal serving to force a tiebreak, Verdasco crunched a forehand down the line for 0-30. Nadal threw in two aces down the T for deuce—the second one saving match point—but another mistimed ball gave up another match point, when Verdasco hit another deep return for a soft short ball and a forehand winner into the open court. Nadal, whose complaints about the surface have been well documented, moves on to redder pastures in Rome, while Verdasco savors a remarkable upset in his home town.