Nadal Loses to 135th-Ranked Player in the First Round

(NYTimes.com) WIMBLEDON, England — Arms folded and lips pursed, Lukas Rosol stared at the television screen on Monday as Rafael Nadal lost on the fresh first-week grass of Wimbledon to another player with a low profile and a ranking in triple digits.

Rosol was that player last year, stunning Nadal in the second round at the All England Club in a five-set thriller that ended up being Nadal’s last match for seven months.

This year’s unlikely tormentor was Steve Darcis, a 29-year-old Belgian veteran ranked 135th who had spent part of this season toiling in the minor leagues of professional tennis: the challenger circuit.

But against the fifth-seeded Nadal, the flashy Darcis — nicknamed Shark because of the shark tattoo on his shoulder — was a highly effective predator: producing cocksure forehand winners, timely first serves and an alluring blend of full-stretch defense and storm-the-net offense that often left Nadal looking surprised and off balance.

In the end, Nadal, the great Spanish champion who just won his eighth French Open, could not win so much as a set as he crashed out in the first round of a Grand Slam event for the first time in singles, losing by 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (10-8), 6-4.

“At the end, it’s not a tragedy,” Nadal said. “That is sport.”

It was an inadvertent echo of a long-ago quotation from Boris Becker when he was stunned in the second round of Wimbledon by the Australian journeyman Peter Doohan in 1987. “No one died out there; I just lost a tennis match,” said Becker, the two-time defending champion.

Nadal has also won two Wimbledon titles, but in the end, Darcis’s victory seemed surprisingly, shockingly straightforward, although it could have become more complex in a hurry if Nadal had converted on his lone set point in the second set.

Darcis was not without references at the club. He upset Tomas Berdych, who was seeded sixth, in the first round of last year’s Olympic tournament in London. But make no mistake. Despite that success and despite Nadal’s lack of grass-court preparation this year, this was still one of the biggest upsets in Wimbledon history. It was without question the biggest first-round surprise since little-known Ivo Karlovic ambushed the defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in 2003.

“I think nobody gave me the slightest chance to win today,” Darcis said.

Asked what his reaction had been when he saw the draw, Darcis grinned and said a four-letter word.

Nadal, who turned 27 this month, declined repeatedly and with increasing irritation to use his left knee as an excuse. “I answered this question three times or four times already,” he said in English. “I don’t gonna talk about my knee this afternoon. Only that can say today is congratulate Steve Darcis. He played a fantastic match. Everything that I will say today about my knee is an excuse, and I don’t like to put any excuse when I’m losing a match like I lost today. He deserve not one excuse.”

It was the first genuine setback since Nadal returned to the circuit in February after a seven-month break because of the knee problems. Coming into Wimbledon, he had played in nine tournaments and reached each final, winning seven titles, including the French Open little more than two weeks ago.

But in an attempt to protect his knee, Nadal had played all but one of those nine tournaments on clay. The original plan was to play a warm-up tournament before Wimbledon on grass in Halle, Germany. Instead, Nadal withdrew from that event and spent the week recovering on his home island, Majorca. He arrived at Wimbledon last Tuesday and, with plenty of help from Darcis, was unable to make up for missed grass-court matches.

Nadal had only lost once to a player ranked lower than Darcis. That was indoors in 2006 in Stockholm against Joachim Johansson, who was ranked 690th.

On Monday, he made uncharacteristic errors and struggled to counter the slice that Darcis produced with his one-handed backhand. Perhaps most significant, Nadal struggled to move freely in the final phases of the match. Though he showed no sign of pain in the early stages, he was clearly hampered near the end, struggling to reach balls usually in his range and limping noticeably after some exchanges.

Nadal said he fully expected to play the year’s final Grand Slam tournament, the United States Open, which will begin in late August. He said he might even add a clay-court event to his schedule.

But for now, this major event will have to do without Nadal, and the bottom half of the draw now seems a much less dangerous place. There were plenty of raised eyebrows over his No. 5 seeding in light of his two Wimbledon titles and his remarkable recent form. But Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will play on in the bottom half of the draw without him, along with the American John Isner.

“So much for that Roger versus Rafa,” Isner said, shaking his head, about the prospective quarterfinal match that can no longer take place.

Murray, Federer and Tsonga won their first-round matches on Monday with relative ease. Federer, the defending champion, went first, playing the traditional opening match on Centre Court and smoothly, often creatively obliterating Victor Hanescu, 6-3, 6-2, 6-0. Tsonga went next, defeating David Goffin of Belgium, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 6-3, on Court 2. Murray went last, defeating Benjamin Becker of Germany (no relation to that other Becker), 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

The question is whether Nadal’s grass-court results the last two seasons are anomalies or a sign of a longer-term issue with the surface. Rosol, who played and lost in the first round on Monday with hip problems of his own, saw warning signs.

“I mean, it’s not easy for Rafa,” Rosol said. “It’s nice he always wins French Open, you know. But this is another tournament, and for him, the first match on the grass, it’s not easy. I know from my own experience.

“On clay he can slide, so it’s not so hard for the knee,” Rosol added. “It’s the same for my hip. But it’s much harder here to stop on the grass. You have to take little steps, so it hurts more. It’s not easy.”

But Rosol said that irrespective of Nadal’s physical challenges, the result was another reminder of the depth of talent in men’s tennis even if the top four players have hoarded the Grand Slam singles trophies for most of the last eight seasons.

“Look, he wins the French Open, a Grand Slam, and now he loses first round against Darcis,” Rosol said. “What is he 70, 80 in the world?”

No, he is 135 and had won just one match in three previous appearances at Wimbledon. Even after his upset, he still has a losing record at this tournament, but he certainly looked like a winner Monday as he finished with an ace down the T and then arched his back and pumped his fists with delight.

“Maybe he was not in the best shape ever; maybe he didn’t play his best match,” Darcis said. “But I have to be proud of me. I think I played a great match, and I fight from the beginning until the end, and I played unbelievable tennis.”

Share this post