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By Romi Cvitkovic

Spanish tennis player and world No. 2 Rafael Nadal has equaled his worse ever defeat at the Wimbledon Championships as he lost to world No. 100, Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic, in the second round of the Wimbledon Championships, 6-7(11), 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.
From the first game of the match, it was clear that Rosol would not be intimidated by two-time Wimbledon champion Nadal, as he fired an ace and two back-to-back forehand winners to open play and hold serve. Nadal responded by winning the next game with two aces. Rosol then held serve at love, but was broken in the fourth game, giving Nadal the slight edge which he usually runs with. But not today.
The Spaniard sprayed a few forehands long giving Rosol the opportunity to break back which he did and it was back on serve at 3-all. The rallies continued into a tiebreak with Rosol serving like a magician and Nadal struggling to find balance in his forehand, until Nadal finally broke free at 9-all to take the first set tiebreak at 11-9.
Nadal instantly dropped his serve with a double-fault at the start of the second set and that is all Rosol needed to secure a 6-4 comeback. All of a sudden, it was the Czech player dictating play and forcing Nadal into errors with his depth of hitting.
The third game was much of the same, with Rosol breaking Nadal to go up 3-1. Nadal became visibly frustrated complaining to the chair umpire about Rosol’s pre-serve movements and noises, which manifested itself in a shoulder dip between the two players during the following changeover. A few small hiccups for Rosol that have him stretching for balls and sending them long could have easily derailed his momentum, but he held strong to take the third set, 6-4.
With many watching stunned, it became difficult to decipher between who was world No. 2 and world No. 100, but Nadal quieted the questioning — at least temporarily in the fourth set. Nadal finally took hold of the rallies, winning two break points, while Rosol became tentative and a bit bewildered. The Czech still held his own, but didn’t force his serve as much and quickly went down 2-6 to force a deciding fifth set.
Due to poor lighting at two sets a piece, play was halted for 45 minutes in order to close the roof on Centre Court, with Nadal scowling at the tournament officials presumably disappointed at breaking his momentum.
Serving to start the final set, Nadal shanked a backhand on the first point and was broken when he failed to put away an overhead. Not overcome with emotion from this impending career-defining victory, Rosol fired 20 winners in the final game. Nothing could have prepared the Czech for what was about to happen. Up 5-4 in the decider, Rosol not only fired three aces, but sealed the match with an ace, instantly falling to his knees, arms outstretched in warrior mode.

Getting to know Lukas Rosol

At 26-years-old, Rosol is a relative unknown in tennis, mostly playing at the ATP Challenger level and in only his 6th Grand Slam appearance. His best Slam performance was at 2011 Roland Garros where he reached the third round as a qualifier by beating his first Top 10 ranked player, Jurgen Melzer in the second round. By beating Nadal today, it is not only his second Top 10 victory, but also the 4th time he has beaten a left-handed player out of five attempts.
Rosol’s win today marks only the second time he has won back-to-back Tour-level matches on grass after reaching the third round at Queen’s Club two weeks ago.
Rosol is also still alive in men’s doubles with partner Mikhail Kukushkin as they defeated No. 13 seed Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins in the first round on Wednesday.
Incidentally, Nadal will have to continue to wait for his next non-clay title, as he has not won a title on a surface other than clay since October 2010, when he won in Tokyo.

Novak Djokovic lost out on completing the Grand Slam of Grand Slams when losing in the final of the French Open to Rafael Nadal but Bettingpro.com writer Neil Roarty explains why the Serb can bounce back at Wimbledon.
The French Open final was a thrilling tennis match between not only the two best players in the world but arguably two of the all-time greats in the men’s game. Rafael Nadal’s victory over Novak Djokovic has some people believing that the tide has turned back in favour of the Spaniard but that is not the case and here are seven reasons why Djokovic will be claiming instant revenge at Wimbledon:

1 – Djokovic is still world number one

Despite the hype over Rafael Nadal’s impressive win over Novak Djokovic in Paris it is still the Serb who sits atop the world rankings and he will head to Wimbledon as the top seed. This has to be respected and it must be remembered that other than on clay (for a three tournament spell) Djokovic has been the best player on the ATP Tour this season. He still holds three of the four major titles and the challenge remains for other players to knock him off his perch, not for him to beat them.

2 – Djokovic is the reigning Wimbledon champion

Last year’s victory at the All England Club was a huge step forward in the career of Novak Djokovic. Not only did it lift him to world number one but it also proved to supporters, opponents and himself that he had the game to win on grass. Nadal lost twice in the final at SW19 before he claimed his first Wimbledon title and then went unbeaten for two years (he did not play in 2010) before Djokovic halted him last year. The confidence of knowing you can win on a new surface cannot be underestimaed and at the moment it is Djokovic who knows that he is the best player on grass.

3 – The Big Four is now only a Big Two

For the last three or four years there has been talk of a ‘Big Four’ in tennis but the past 12 months has shown that to be wrong. Each of the last four Grand Slam finals have now been contested by Djokovic and Nadal and it is now clear that there are only two top players in the men’s game. Roger Federer and Andy Murray lag some way behind the ‘Big Two’ and if any of those players beat Djokovic at Wimbledon it would rank as a major upset.

4 –Djokovic 11 Nadal 6

Djokovic holds an almost 2:1 head-to-head lead against Nadal on any courts other than clay. This includes the last five meetings between the pair on either hard or grass courts and also takes in the last three Grand Slam finals on those surfaces. Nadal may be the King of Clay but Djokovic rules on all other courts.

5 – Djokovic is the fittest player on the ATP Tour

Djokovic’s fitness levels are incredible. He may adopt a hangdog look at times during matches but he is never out of energy. He is often susceptible to bursts of inspiration from opponents but he always manages to ride these out to go on and win matches. The likes of Andy Murray or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga can play at 100% for one or maybe even two sets before falling to half pace but Djokovic can play at 90-99% for as long as a match lasts. This means that the longer a match lasts, the more chance the Serb has of emerging victorious, as indicated by his five sets wins over Andreas Seppi and Tsonga in Paris and his epic five set victory over Nadal in last year’s US Open final.

6 – Djokovic should have won the French Open final

The French Open final was a strange match. There were a lot of breaks of serve but there was also a clear momentum shift on Sunday afternoon. Nadal took the first two sets after some blistering tennis but Djokovic, as noted in point 5, simply hung in against the Spaniard and seemed to have ridden out the storm. He rattled off eight consecutive games and but for a rain delay would have gone on and won the title at Roland Garros. It wasn’t to be and Nadal was allowed to regroup, recuperate and he came back out and took the fourth set on Monday. A clear day at Wimbledon, however, would no doubt see the Serb get the better of his rival over five sets.

7 – Djokovic has the most motivation

The defeat at Roland Garros will have stung Djokovic far more than any recent defeat has hurt Nadal. The loss prevented the world number one from achieving an historic Grand Slam of Grand Slam titles, which is something that neither Nadal nor Federer has achieved. The 25-year-old will be keen to avenge the defeat and show that losing in Paris was simply a blip. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Serb went on to win Wimbledon and then both the US Open and Australian Open titles before returning to Paris in 2013 to finally crack Nadal.
Article provided by Neil Roarty from Wimbledon-Live.com

wimbledon championships

Rafael Nadal stunned by world No. 100 Lukas Rosol in second round of Wimbledon Championships