Oh, boy. Our Hero, Rafael Nadal, suffered his first loss in the 1st round of any Grand Slam yesterday, and it totally blows. Rafa had been playing so well on clay and hard courts and before last year had reached 5 consecutive finals he played at Wimbledon (he missed the event altogether in 2009 with injury) and many had picked him to go really far this year. It was not to be. Steve Darcis of Belgium (ranked at No. 135) stunned our beautiful boy 7-6 (4), 7-6 (8), 6-4. After the 1st tie break went against him, I was like, "well, okay. it happens." but then he failed to serve out the second set at 6-5 and I was like, "hmm." and then he LOST the second set tie break 10-8, and I was like "OH NO." And then he was broken to begin the third set and I was like, "It's over." Usually I don't give up on Rafa until the very last point is played, but I could just tell there would be no reversal of fortune this time.
I don't know what it is about grass that makes these low-ranked players just play lights-out tennis against Rafa in the early rounds. As much as Rafa was off, Darcis was ON. It was just one of those days. You have to accept them. Rafa has had great success at Wimbledon, but right now grass is a big struggle. He's still won 7 titles this season. That's almost an absurd amount of success. It's just not going to happen this year at Wimby. At least it happened so quick, I didn't even have enough time to become emotionally invested in the tournament. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the draw shakes out after this. Can Murray win his 1st Wimbledon? Will Federer win his 8th? Can anyone upset Novak on the top half of the draw? I'll still be paying attention, even if my favorite guy is out of the mix. I hope he gets over the loss quickly and takes a little bit longer of vacation before the summer hard court swing prior to the US Open.
In the meantime, we can treat ourselves to THIS. (Thanks for sending the link, BFF!)
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