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Sizing Up Rafael Nadal’s First-Round Wimbledon Loss
Published: June 25, 2013
Darcis' victory over Nadal surely ranks as one of the Championships' most memorable upsets, along with the first-round exit of defending champions Manolo Santana in 1967, Lleyton Hewitt in 2002, and Peter Doohan's victory over Boris Becker in 1987. The last drew a philosophic comment from the German, "Nobody died. I only lost a tennis match, nothing more."
Rafael Nadal managed something nearly as memorable, saying, "This is a sport of victories, not of losses."
Nadal's surprising repeat of 2012 failure—surpassing it in failure, actually, as he will lose the meagre 45 ranking points he achieved last year—has naturally sparked the usual rumours. The knees failed him; the eight month hiatus has ruined his career irreparably; he has lost some of his mojo; and from some quarters, he may never win Wimbledon again.
The doomsday predictions and ill-mongering aside, we need to consider some facts. Nadal has had a tremendous 2013, having won seven of the 10 tournaments he has entered, and has come off a 22-match winning streak and an eighth French Open title. In Paris he outlasted the world No. 1 in a grueling four-and-a-half hour semifinal and still had plenty left in the tank for arguably the second-best clay-courter around, David Ferrer. It would be hard to brush aside allegations that he played without confidence.
Nor is the emphasis on his knees entirely pertinent. It has become the first calling card for any shocking Nadal loss, and the journalist who had the temerity to ask Nadal if his defeat was attributable to them received a perceptibly agitated ri...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis
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