In an unexpected incident, twelve-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal suffered the most humiliating defeats in Wimbledon history at the hands of world number 135 Steve Darcis of Belgium on Monday.
Unseeded Darcis clinched a shocking 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (10/8), 6-4 win to condemn the fifth-seed Spanish sportstar to a first ever loss in the commencing round of a major. This occurred just two weeks after the 2008 and 2010 Wimbledon champion Nadal had celebrated a record eighth French Open title. Nadal's last defeat was against such a low-ranked player Joachim Johansson--the world 690, at the 2006 Stockholm Open. Nadal was also defeated in the second round by Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic at last year's Wimbledon which concluded his 22-match winning streak in 2013.
The bizarre result emerged for the first time since a French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten in 1997 had lost in the opening round at Wimbledon.
The 29 year old Journeyman Darcis nicknamed 'Shark', had entered Wimbledon with just two wins under his belt on the tour all year. Darcis, who has now matched his best performance at the All England Club having reached the 2nd round in 2009 expressed that nobody was expecting his win today. He doesn’t know what to say. He is really happy. He felt that Nadal didn't play his best tennis, but he knows that the first match on grass is always difficult. For him, it is a big victory. He attempted to come into the net and it worked pretty well. Darcis clarified that Nadal lost early last year too, but if one tries to focus on him it is tougher. He tried to focus on himself and he thinks he did great today. He always played good on grass, maybe not here because he had tough draws. However he has two wins against top 10 players on grass.
On the other hand, Nadal had won 43 out of his 45 matches and seven titles since his return to the tour in February after a 7-month injury lay-off to rest his scandalously suspect knees. However, the 27-year-old had warned in the minutes after his historic Paris win that he was truly concerned over whether or not his knees would support at Wimbledon. He decided not to go for a grasscourt warm-up. Apparently, he was a novice on the surface rather than the man who has swept two Wimbledon titles. Amazingly, Darcis who has never crossed the third round of a Grand Slam, took advantage of the Spaniard's crippling uncertainties by sweeping through the first set tiebreak. Actually, Nadal had lost the first set in both his opening rounds in Paris. So this was well-known territory and he broke to lead 6-5 in the second set.
No doubt, Darcis bravely hit back in the 12th game before holding his nerve for a two sets lead on his fifth set point in the tiebreak while Nadal continued to battle with his rhythm, angles and confidence. The Belgian broke again for 2-0 in the third set. Meanwhile, Nadal, a shadow of the man who unleashed a constant barrage of pinpoint groundstrokes to lay the foundation of success in Paris, was half-paced as well as half-hearted.
Darcis went to 5-3 in the decider and claimed his famous win after 2hr 55min with his 13th ace of the match. He has also fired down 53 winners. Subsequently, Darcis will lock horns with Poland's Lukasz Kubot.
