After bowing out of the tournament in one of its classic encounters, Rafael Nadal paid generous tribute to the veteran who ended his bid to win a third title at Wimbledon last night.

The world number two battled back heroically after falling two sets behind, then contested a further 28 games with Gilles Muller before the big serving man from Luxembourg finally battered through his resolve on No.1 Court.

“I didn't play my best the first two sets and made a couple mistakes that made me then play all the time against the scoreboard and that's so difficult against a player like him,” Nadal said afterwards.

“So well done for him. He played well. Especially in the fifth, he played great game. I was there, fighting until the last ball, with the right attitude. It was probably not my best match, but at the same time I played against a very uncomfortable opponent.

“I had my chances and he made some mistakes, but not enough and most of the time in the fifth he played more aggressive and he played better than me.”

With both men serving supremely well once Nadal found his form during the third set, it was probably crucial that the outsider served first in the final set.

As a consequence it was Nadal who had to fend off two match points in its 10th game and another two in the 22nd, before eventually conceding two more in the 28th, the first of which was enough to make the difference as the Spaniard hit the ball long.

“I played well for moments, but I was fighting against the score a lot of times, love-15, love-30, too many times in the fifth,” he said.

“When you are in that situation too many times, the normal thing is that finally you lose and that's what happened.

“Even like this, I think I played with the right determination, right passion, right attitude to win the match, but his serve is huge.

“I tried different things, but in the fifth he hit a lot of good spots with the serve and was very consistent, not having to hit too many second serves.

“That's it. Congratulate him.”

He fully deserved it and Muller believed he got his reward for keeping faith in himself.

“I thought I played pretty well throughout,” he said.

“Rafa stepped it up in the third and fourth sets, but I felt that if I kept playing the way I was going to get chances.

“I got a few and I didn’t take the first ones, but I still kept believing and I made it.”