Wimbledon is always good for a surprise; but some surprises really surprise. Steve Darcis from Belgium put Rafael Nadal out of the tournament in the first round. He managed this after his start into the grass season by losing to Stanislas Wawrinka in the first round at s'Hertogenbosch in Holland a week ago. It put an abrupt end to Rafael Nadal's dream comeback, but is a dream comeback for Steve Darcis.
Rafael Nadal is still considered to be in comeback from his knee injury and a heavily bandaged knee and his movements told everyone that he did not feel safe on grass. What seemingly nobody knows is that Steve Darcis is in comeback from a shoulder injury. And the way he dived and rolled all over the court would not have told you that, either.
The upset shows how good the current field of tennis players is up to the world's number 200 or even deeper into the ranking. Arguably, it might be the closest ranking since the open era began. There is only one player in his teens in the top 200 for instance. And the greedy point collection by the top four make it seem as if there are worlds between them and the rest. But they have to battle each round just as much as all the rest.
The top four preach time and again not to look further than the next game. Rafael Nadal just proved the point, or maybe Steve Darcis did. It also goes to show that even they can't get away with an average day. Especially if, like the Belgium number 3, you don't have anything to loose. He could have gone down 6:0, 6:0, 6:0, and no one would have noticed it.
And Andy Murray? He managed to get two tennis questions wrong in a pub quiz.
The match was not the one we expected to make the headlines. That should have been Stansislas Wawrinka against Lleyton Hewitt. But Stanislas Wawrinka had a bad day at the office and let Lleyton Hewitt cruise by him without too much trouble. At the same time, Steve Darcis did a Lukas Rosol and played the match of his life while Rafael Nadal had a decidedly average day.
Rafael Nadal is still considered to be in comeback from his knee injury and a heavily bandaged knee and his movements told everyone that he did not feel safe on grass. What seemingly nobody knows is that Steve Darcis is in comeback from a shoulder injury. And the way he dived and rolled all over the court would not have told you that, either.
The upset shows how good the current field of tennis players is up to the world's number 200 or even deeper into the ranking. Arguably, it might be the closest ranking since the open era began. There is only one player in his teens in the top 200 for instance. And the greedy point collection by the top four make it seem as if there are worlds between them and the rest. But they have to battle each round just as much as all the rest.
The top four preach time and again not to look further than the next game. Rafael Nadal just proved the point, or maybe Steve Darcis did. It also goes to show that even they can't get away with an average day. Especially if, like the Belgium number 3, you don't have anything to loose. He could have gone down 6:0, 6:0, 6:0, and no one would have noticed it.
And Andy Murray? He managed to get two tennis questions wrong in a pub quiz.
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