10:33 Wonder what the fishing is like in Mallorca right now? It’s a sure bet that Rafa Nadal will be able to let us know soon enough, as he heads back home after a shock loss yesterday. The UK’s Daily Telegraph simply calls it ‘The Shock Of The Century’. Do you agree?!
Photo: Mezza May
10:45 Becker has been pretty vocal about Nadal’s future, too, following the Spaniard’s second straight early exit. “He definitely has to consider whether grass has a future for him,” Becker told the BBC. “I almost thought that he should contemplate not playing this year.”
10:49 Nadal noticeably avoided hitting his backhand yesterday and appeared to be limping slightly in the third set. Despite that, he promised to return to Wimbledon for a tilt at the title he has won twice before. “I think and I hope to have a few more years to play here and to play at the right level,” he said. “I was not able to play great this year or last year. But I gonna try.”
11:00 Email from Tina: “It is quite shocking – however, now he can back to Mallorca and get some fishing in and get ready for the hard court season. Vamos!!”
11:08 Was it Wimbledon’s biggest first-round upset of all time? Could be… Remember that Becker’s loss to Doohan and Sampras’s defeat by Bastl came in the second round. But it’s worth remembering top seed and defending champ Lleyton Hewitt’s exit to 202-ranked Ivo Karlovic. And what about qualifier Jelena Dokic’s 6-2, 6-0 win over world No.1 Martina Hingis in 1999?
Source: Wimbledon Live Blog
Do you think it was the sport shock of the century? What do you think about Becker’s words? Let us know by commenting below!
I am only watching tennis because of Rafa. He makes the game somewhat very exciting.Anyway, I still can watch Federer and admittedly rooting for him now that Rafa is gone.
This 1st round loss definitely ranks high in the “shocker” category and was a bigger surprise than last year’s loss to Rosol in Round 2, especially given Rafa’s record over these past few months. But knowing Rafa he will recover and come back. There is no reason to write him off just yet, someone who only two weeks ago came out the winner of an epic RG semi final to win a record breaking 8th French Open title!
To me the biggest shocker ever is still Steffi Graf’s (who was the defending 3 time champion) 1st round loss to Lori McNeil in 1995. Different century I realize but it was absolutely astonishing.
who says Rafa should get married, I am his GF. don’t say that, Lol just kidding around, I love Rafa but I love my husband of almost 49 years, besides that I am too old for Rafa, I am 64 he is 27, I think Rafa should marry Maria his girlfriend of 7 years, what about it Rafa she is Beautiful and I am sure you Love her after all I don’t think she would still be around after all this time if you didn’t love her right/ anyway you are my favorite sportsman and my favorite sport is The exciteing game of TENNIS, LOVE IT!!!!!!. I want you too have a Happy Life Rafa who ever you choose to spend it with, God Bless you and yours. cant wait too see you play Tennis again my favorite player.
Shock of the Century = news must be slow in London. Shocking, and disappointing yes – a tournament without Rafa is for me like drinking cold coffee. Rafa brings so much to the tennis world = give him a break. His message for me is that there is not enough time between two major grand slams to prepare especially going from clay to grass.
I for one don’t agree with Becker because I know Rafa is a great talent on any surface, Rafa has won 2 titles at Wimbledon. It appears too me Rafa was just caught not being at his best in the match. after all he has played a lot of Tennis after his comeback this year and made it to every final winning 7 out of nine championships his knee had to be bothering him. I could tell by watching he was in some discomfort even though he did not want to talk about it. I have ever bit of faith that Rafa can win at Wimbledon again. I have never seen Rafa play as close up as he was playing in the match, that showed me he was not up to running as much as he usally does in a match so that told me Rafa was not up to par, I saw Rafa make some killer shots in the match also they were just too few of them and way too many mistakes. I thought Dar played great. I watched Rogers match it was good but I don’t think Roger or his opponent played nearly as good as Rafas opponent did. I think that had Roger been playing against Rafas opponent he would have lost the first round too. and Roger did not have any ailments at all. enough said.
Maybe Rafa will find time for a wedding!
It may have been a dissappointing lose yesterday for Rafa …. Still as long as he is healty and enjoying his life that should be the key to life …. He has won 7 of the 9 tournaments that he has played …. Should not the journey in life be about the memories of the positives instead of this focus on the lose of the century as you put it ??????? ….Vamos Rafa your still the greatest in the sport at handling a lose and giving respect as you did …..
Shock of the century, get real. There are worse things happening in the world right now that would be a shock. It’s sport, we enjoy it. There are wins and losses, nothing that would be life changing. Rafa has made history and achieved so much at his age and has got more than so many other high profile players in his age group. Give the guy a break, you cant be great all the time and it gives others the chance to succeed and advance who have been in Rafa’s shadow. Rafa is a class act and is one of the greatest clay court players of all time. I will miss him in Wimbledon as the fizz just went out, but the game of life will continue and so will Rafa. I believe he can win more slams and go on until he retires. Federer has had shock exists, but he is still around. Dont make this a big deal to get headlines. Had Rafa pulled out, which is what I thought he should have done, the media would have made that a shock. Murray pulled out of French Open, but that somehow got down graded to not important as he is not a great clay court player! SW19 IS NOT NOW A MUST GO TO EVENT! Now that should be the shock of the century! lol
I was stunned I have to admit as for Beckers comments isn’t a hard court going to be worse on his knee than grass,I would say yes,but Rafa will be back he is determined to play so good luck to him for the future
Sim….foi um choque, mas, acontece com quem esta no topo, nao acredito e nao espero que isto o abale por muito tempo….Esporte é isso, temos nossos dias que as coisas nao funcionam….VOLTA RAPIDO RAFA….NOS PRECISAMOS DE VOCE E TE AMAMOS. SEMPRE.
Rafa’s loss yesterday was disappointing and unexpected to many given his recent success, but shock of the century? Absolutely not. This is just so typical of a sensationalist press doing what they do best – sensationalising anything and everything that happens their way. My default position is to ignore much of what Becker says, but I do find myself wondering with the current condition of his knees, if Rafa will be able to taste success again on SW19’s grass given its timing after a long clay season. Vamos, Rafa – enjoy the summer’s fishing.
Anyone who thinks a player that won the French Open 16 days ago, may have to be written off is probably out of his mind.
There are plenty of reasons for a loss like this. Rafa, unlike players like Federer, Sampras and Becker, doesn’t have the secure big serve to lean on on grass. So he must battle on grass, just like he does on clay. It’s more difficult on grass to rally and set it up for the forehand winner. Tennis is no ABC, it’s not as if the opponent will surrender just because he’s playing possibly the Greatest Of All Times. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Rafa almost went out to Brands at RG, and yesterday he went out for real. It’s sports.