World No.94 Damir Dzumhur has insisted that his triumph over Rafael Nadal on Saturday is no less significant due to his opponents retirement.
The Bosnian got his first ever win over a top-10 player after Nadal retired during their second round encounter at the Miami Open. Dzumhur was leading 2-6, 6-4, 3-0, before Nadal quit the match after experiencing dizzy spells on a hot and humid day at the tournament. It was the first time that the nine-time French Open champion has retired since the 2010 Australian Open.
It was a fairly convincing performance from Dzumhur against the below-par Spaniard, producing 22 winners against 24 unforced errors. In contrast Nadal produced 19 and 31. Nevertheless, the Bosnian No.1 still sees his win over Nadal as a big step for him, regardless of his retirement.
“I would not like my victory to be diminished because Nadal surrendered the match, especially knowing how much emotion, power and energy I invested in this match”. The Sarajevo Times quoted him saying.
Following his match against Nadal, Dzumhur spoke with world No.1 Novak Djokovic. The two men first got acquainted with each other at the 2014 Australian Open, when Dzumhur became the first player from his country to reach the third round of a major tournament. Like Djokovic, Dzumhur grew up during the Bosnian war, which struck the region for three years between 1992- 1995. The Serbian told his younger rival that he should be ‘proud’ of his win.
“I met Novak Đoković after the match and he told me to be proud of myself, because Nadal has never surrendered a match in his career before. And the truth is, I am proud. I did a great thing. I fought and gave my best to win.” The 23-year-old said.
Nadal wasn’t the only person struggling on the court in the sweltering Miami heat. Other retirements at the tournament on Saturday include Sergiy Stakhovsky, Aljaz Bedene and Thomaz Bellucci. Speaking about the unforgiving circumstances in Miami, the Bosnian also admitted that he was also troubled by the testing conditions.
“The heat was unbearable, but I thought that perhaps I will never have the opportunity to play against Nadal again and I continued. I played better and better and celebrated in the end. On the other side, Nadal did not surrender before the third set, and until then we have already been fighting for every point. I am emotionally and physically exhausted”. He concluded.
The 23-year-old will now play in the third round of a Masters tournament for the first time in his career. In the next round he will play qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin. The encounter will be the second meeting between the two after the 2013 Kosice Challenger, when Dzumhur lost in three sets.
Damir Dzumhur Facts
Age: 23
Current ranking: 94 (career high of 77 in October 2015).
Titles: Six Challenger and 12 Futures titles.
Best Grand Slam performance: Australian Open 2014 (third round)
Current career prize money: $720,021
