LONDON: Launching outrageous winners left, right and centre, obscure Czech Lukas Rosol rocked Wimbledon’s Centre Court to its foundations on Thursday by winning a final-set shootout after dusk against twice former champion Rafael Nadal.
Ranked 100th in the world, few of the enthralled 15,000 fans inside the arena would have heard of Rosol before the match started but none present will forget witnessing one of the biggest shocks in the tournament’s 126-year history.
Nadal came oh-so-close to a straight-sets exit. He barely avoided losing the opener, forced to erase three set points before taking the tiebreak when Rosol hit a forehand into the net.
Rosol took the next two sets, pounding serves, returning well and swinging away from the baseline. Some of his forehands were clocked at around 150kph.
It was an aggressive approach, as though Rosol wanted to out-muscle the ultimate on-court bully, right down to imitating the way Nadal sprints back to the baseline after changeovers.
When Nadal leveled the match at two sets all it seemed inevitable that he would go on to win, albeit with plenty of battle scars after being staggered by the heavy artillery from Rosol.
However, after a 30-minute delay while Centre Court’s roof was slid into position, 26-year-old Rosol returned to overpower the 11-time grand slam champion and complete an electrifying 6-7 (9), 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory in three hours and 18 minutes, ending at 2:30am India time.
Nadal broke twice in the fourth set to even the match, and gathering darkness made lights necessary for the final set.
Serving to start the final set, Nadal shanked a groundstroke on the first point and was broken when he failed to put away an overhead. Rosol easily held from there, winning his final 13 service points, seven of them aces.
In short, it was a complete performance that had spectators wondering why they’d never heard of him before.
‘Painful to lose’
“It is only a tennis match,” was Nadal’s philosophical take.
“It’s painful to lose tonight, I’m not very happy but it was just the second round, I was a long way from the final.
”He played more than unbelievable,” Nadal said.
“You play against an inspired opponent and I am out. That’s all. It is not a tragedy.”
Shoulder charge
It wasn’t the most good-tempered of matches, with Nadal becoming clearly irritated by Rosol’s constant movement while waiting to receive serve and made his anger clear to the umpire.
After the Czech had broken for a 2-1 lead in the third set, the two players collided at the changeover.
“I was surprised that he can do it on the Centre Court at Wimbledon. I didn’t expect it, it was his choice,” said the Czech.
“I thought that he wants to let me go first, you know, but then he start to walk fast. He hit me, and then three times he apologise. And I say, OK.”
Nadal refused to make excuses for his defeat and would not discuss the shoulder bump or why he had complained to the chair umpire, saying that it would just be taken as an excuse for his performance.
On his win, Rosol was equally amazed as everyone else. ”I’m not just surprised; it’s like a miracle for me,” he said. “He played a good match,” Rosol said, ”but I think I was better today.”
No one can deny that.
Wimbledon shockers
It’s the first time since 2005 that Nadal lost in the second round at any major tournament, but Wimbledon has witnessed some seismic shocks down the years. Here are three other matches that shook up Wimbledon.
2002 – Swiss journeyman George Bastl beats Pete Sampras, who with seven Wimbledon trophies, endured one of the worst defeats of his career, losing 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4 in the second round to a player ranked 145th in the world.
1987 – Australian Peter Doohan beats Boris Becker. The German top seed and two-times defending champion seemed invincible on the Wimbledon grass but ran into 70th-ranked Doohan in the second round. Becker was bounced out 7-6 4-6 6-2 6-4 and Doohan earned the nickname of “Becker Wrecker”.
2002 – Andre Agassi humbled by Paradorn Srichaphan.
A 32-year-old Agassi, seeded three after a stunning career revival, joined old rival Sampras on the scrap heap after being dismantled by Thailand’s Srichaphan 6-4 7-6 6-2.
The second round match was all over in one hour 47 minutes. (Agencies)