KEY BISCAYNE, Fla.—Despite his initial hopes of winning the Miami Open for the first time after four runner-up finishes, Rafael Nadal retired in his opening-round match due to illness while trailing Damir Dzumhur, 2-6, 6-4, 3-0.

Though Dzumhur is nowhere near the experience level of Nadal, the 23-year-old world No. 94 managed to last in the conditions a little bit longer than the 14-time Grand Slam champion to score his biggest career victory.

“Well, everything was fine until the end of the first set. I start to feel myself not very good,” Nadal said. “It’s getting worse, worse and worse, so finally in the second set I realized I was not able to keep playing. I tried to resist. I get a little bit scared to be too dizzy… So I call the doctor a couple of times, but I felt that I was not safe there so I decided to go.”

It was certainly hot today, with temperatures in the 80s, minimal cloud cover and high humidity. But it’s something a champion like Nadal is used to. Before the tournament began, the world No. 5 was asked about the conditions, saying simply, “It's not very hot. It's very humid. That's it.”

Dzumhur himself wasn’t feeling well at the start of the match, but wanted to enjoy a rare chance of playing against what he calls a “big guy.”

“It’s definitely not the way I wanted to finish,” Dzumhur said. “It was very tough to play today. I felt also really tired, heavy. In some moments dizzy on the court in the first set… Between the first and second I called a medical [timeout]. I was thinking really about retirement.”

The ending was disappointing for everyone. Nadal’s game looked to be improving, especially after a semifinal showing last week in Indian Wells.

“I was playing well during the match at the beginning, too,” Nadal said. “When you have something like this, then its impossible. Was tough for me because I felt myself that I was playing well. I had a good practices after playing a great week in Indian Wells. It’s a hard accident, but that’s life, and it’s like this.”

Embed from Getty Images

Advertising

Dzumhur’s last few weeks couldn’t have gone more differently. He lost 12 straight games in suffering a 6-1, 6-0 rout to Marcel Granollers in the first round of Indian Wells. The Bosnian had so much time between the two Masters 1000 events that he flew down to Guadalajara, Mexico for an ATP Challenger (where he lost in the second round). This week he had to beat Leonardo Mayer in the first round to earn his shot against Nadal.

“I always say that Indian Wells I love that tournament, but I never win a match there,” Dzumhur said. “I just don’t love the conditions there. Opposite I love the conditions here in Miami even though it’s really tough to play.”

The 23-year-old hails from Sarajevo, where he began playing at the age of five at the Zetra Olympic Hall (the same arena that was destroyed just after his birth during the Bosnian War), and is coached by his father, Nerfid.

Before today, his claim to fame was as a child actor—Dzumhur played a major role in Mörderischer Frieden “Snipers Valley” in 2007).

“I was acting in two movies. I had some more chances to be in movies in a period after that,” Dzumhur said. “But I was already traveling the world for tennis. I was 14 when I was acting in that first movie. Tennis was already No. 1 for me so I never was choosing between acting and tennis.”

Embed from Getty Images

Advertising

Dzumhur has been ranked as high as No. 77 after first cracking the Top 100 in 2015, and back in 2010 was the No. 3 junior in the world.

“That was a big moment for me that at least I could play with [Nadal],” Dzumhur said of his play today. “In the end, not the way I wanted but I won.”

Dzumhur will next play qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin, who also reached the third round via retirement (against Thomas Bellucci). The first money Dzumhur ever earned was from acting, but this week will be yield his biggest paycheck—as well as some more stardom.