"19", "name" => "Tennis", "category" => "Players Under the Microscope", "path" => "/var/www/vhosts/betting.betfair.com/httpdocs/tennis/", "url" => "https://betting.betfair.com/tennis/", "title" => "Nadal ready to take break after defeat : Players Under the Microscope : Tennis", "desc" => "Rafael Nadal is set to return home to Spain and forget about tennis for a few days after he crashed out of the Artois Championships at the quarter-final stage when losing to France's Nicolas Mahut. Nadal went into the last-eight...", "keywords" => "", "robots" => "index,follow" ); $category_sid = "sid=4016"; ?>

Nadal ready to take break after defeat

Players Under the Microscope RSS / / 16 June 2007 /

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Rafael Nadal is set to return home to Spain and forget about tennis for a few days after he crashed out of the Artois Championships at the quarter-final stage when losing to France's Nicolas Mahut.

Nadal went into the last-eight tie having finished off his rain-delayed match against Max Mirnyi in just five minutes. However former Wimbledon junior champion, Mahut, who had already defeated fifth seed Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 (7-3) 6-3, was a much tougher proposition and progressed in straight sets 7-5 7-6 (7-0).

Mahut, who will now meet fellow compatriot Arnaud Clement - the conqueror of fourth seed Novak Djokovic and former finalist Ivo Karlovic - in Saturday's semi-finals, said: "It's the best day in my tennis life. It's amazing."

Nadal was disappointed that his grass-court warm-up ended prematurely, but he admitted that it will give him time to enjoy a much-needed break in his homeland before returning to England for Wimbledon on June 25, where he is trading at 8.2 to win at SW19.

He said: "It was tough, I really didn't play very well. I tried my best with the best attitude, but I only had one or two chances.

"He served very well but I'm happy with my tournament. It is difficult to play every day and to get to the quarter-final on grass is not so bad for me."

He added: "I will now go home. I want to play some golf, watch the end of the football season, and have some fun with my friends.

"I need to put the tennis racket far away from myself for a few days. The positive thing is that I will have time at home, but the negative thing is that I won't have the chance to play the semi-final or the final here at Queen's."

Meanwhile Saturday's other semi-final will be fought out between Andy Roddick and Dmitry Tursunov following their respective last-eight wins against Croatian wildcard Marin Cilic and third seed Fernando Gonzalez.

Roddick is now 1.68 favourite to win Queens, with Mahut, Tursunov and Clement trading at 5.8, 7.2 and 9 respectively.

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