Nadal will be back
The yo-yo world of top-flight international tennis threw up a big shock on Monday with the unprecedented first-round exit in a Grand Slam event for French Open champion Rafael Nadal. Having limped on a bad knee on court, the Spanish conquistador refused to speak about his physical problems as it would take away the gloss of victory from unheralded World No. 135 Steve Darcis, who beat him in straight sets.
“This is a sport of victories. It’s not a sport of losses: nobody remembers those. And I don’t want to remember this loss,” Nadal insisted as he began a two-week enforced break.
It’s far too early to write off the 12-time Grand Slam champion, says Scotsman Andy Murray, who is thought to be using a bit of reverse psychology by insisting that winning Wimbledon is not his greatest goal. Britons are, however, revving up their expectations to welcome a home-made champion on Wimbledon’s famous grass courts after Fred Perry in 1936 even as Swiss champion of champions Roger Federer seems in ominous form again on one of his favourite surfaces.
The beauty of tennis in Grand Slams is the wide variety of natural and artificial surfaces they offer and the diverse challenge is to be able to perform on all of them to win all four as contemporary greats Federer and Nadal have done. Now the big battle may be between Federer, Murray and Djokovic, all electrifying players capable of setting the green grass of London SW19 on fire.
Post new comment