“That is sport,” a contemplative Rafael Nadal offered the press room following his loss to world No. 135 Steve Darcis, in the first round of Wimbledon. Nadal, a two-time victor at Wimbledon, was coming to the Championship fresh from his record making eighth French Open victory, which made his straight sets defeat by the Belgian qualifier all the more inconceivable – or, alternately, fantastically profitable for tennis gamblers who prefer to play the long odds.
Darcis played near flawless tennis and just outclassed Nadal, consistently hitting winners under pressure from all over the court and he served like a boss, becoming the lowest-ranked player to beat Nadal since Joachim Johansson (who even?) in 2006.
Nadal was humble and philosophical in defeat, praising his opponent and refusing to mention fatigue or a niggling knee injury following the match. He said, “Sometimes you play well and you have the chance to win. Sometimes you play worse and your opponent plays well and you lose. I just want to congratulate Darcis. I think he played a fantastic match. At the end [of the day it] is not a tragedy.”
Guess who did get through? Good old Lleyton Hewitt, who at 32 scored a surprise straight-sets win over 11th seed Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4 7-5 6-3!
After the match, Hewitt, who frankly is pretty ‘tennis old’ these days, said, “People ask me when I’m going to retire. Why would I retire when I can play in an atmosphere like that?”, referring to the 62% humidity, 2 kilometre winds, and clear 14 degrees Celsius skies in Wimbledon on Monday. Only Kidding. He meant the blue bloods and lay people clapping all over their strawberries and cream, of course. Good luck, LleyLley!
Via ATP
