Czech player, Rosol, played the match of his life. Unknown till now, the 101th ranked
player on the circuit has defeated the number 2 ranked player of the world with
a score line of 6-7 (9-11) 6-4 6-4 2-6 6-4. Rafael Nadal, who has not lost at
such an early stage of the tournament since Wimbledon 2005, was thoroughly
outplayed by the lanky 6’5’’ Lukas Rosol.
Rosol, whose best performance till date has been third round of French
open 2011, played his heart out. Although agreed that Nadal may not be very
best, but still nothing can be taken away from Rosol. Nadal is capable of
beating most of the players on the circuit even on his bad-day. But today, he
simply had no answer to the power-packed punches which were delivered to him by
Rosol.
Rosol started off the match with two consecutive aces and few would have
fathomed what was about to follow over the next five sets. Nadal managed to
break Rosol’s serve as early as fifth game of the match. However, he could not
hold on to his serve and Rosol immediately broke back Nadal’s next serve. The
set went into a tie-breaker with Rosol having a set point with Nadal to serve.
However, he could not break his serve and finally Nadal took the tie-breaker
(11-9).
The second set started on a positive note for Rosol as he had 3 break
points in the very first game itself. And to sum that game up, Nadal gifted the
last point with a double fault. Although Nadal had a break point in the next
game, Rosol made his big serve count. The rest of the games were more or less
regulation games with each player holding on to the serve. Rosol managed to
close down the set at 6-4. The most shocking part of the set was Nadal made
only one unforced error and still lost the set.
Rosol managed to get a break right in the third game of the third set.
He was asking all sorts of questions and with Nadal having an awful day at work,
he did not fail to capitalize on the opportunities. Rosol then managed to hold
on to his serves and duly closed out the set 6-4. Where Rosol was building
momentum and confidence, Nadal was getting agitated. I haven’t seen him this
frustrated or agitated since long.
Nadal had never lost a match in Wimbledon after winning the first set.
Besides, he has never been defeated to such a lowly ranked player before.
Though the statistics were stacked against Rosol, he gave everything to the
match. Rosol would always have expected Nadal not to give up. Nadal came
fighting back into the fourth set and broke the sixth game and eight game
of the set to win 6-2.
Rosol’s first serve points won dipped alarmingly from 92% in first set
to 60% in fourth. Also, Nadal had started dominating the rallies. One would
always back Nadal when the match is going to the fifth set. With the
experience of playing under pressure and the experience of “been there and done
that” anyone would have put his money on Nadal.
And then the officials started putting the roof on centre court. This proved
to be a welcome break for Rosol as he was looking out of sorts in the fourth
with his first serve and Nadal had begun dominating the game.
After a 43 minute break Rosol came back
roaring into the match by breaking the very first game of the set. And then, it
was again back to holding serves for Rosol. With his first serve in the money
again and all his booming forehand winners on target it was impossible for
Nadal to get back into the game.
Anyone and
everyone who was glued to their TV sets across the globe may not have imagined
this kind of upset. Even when Rosol was serving for the match and his first
serve was going really good, no one would have imagined him to go all the way.
Surely, logic says that he should have blinked, he should have given Nadal that
little opening which is needed to be back into match. However, with three match
points, all the demons were put to rest with a big ace which actually summed up
the match.
Rafael Nadal was
thoroughly outplayed by this lowly ranked player. Obviously, Murray would now
be having an eye on the progress or otherwise of this dark horse.
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