Nadal takes it on the chin, vows to soldier on

London, July 3

Rafael Nadal insisted he has no intentions of quitting tennis despite slumping to a fourth successive Wimbledon humiliation.

The 29-year-old Spaniard, who was Wimbledon champion in 2008 and 2010 and runner-up in 2006, 2007 and 2011, was humbled 7-5 3-6 6-4 6-4 by dreadlocked German Dustin Brown, the world No. 102, in the second round. Brown, who once was so short of cash that he travelled to tournaments in a camper van, hit 13 aces and 58 winners on the back of a free-hitting, serve-and-volley barrage.

It was 29-year-old Nadal’s first ever defeat to a qualifier at a Grand Slam and came in the aftermath of losing his French Open crown where he had been champion nine times. Thursday’s loss followed his 2012 second round exit to world No. 100 Lukas Rosol, a first round beating by the 135-ranked Steve Darcis in 2013 and last year’s fourth round defeat to Nick Kyrgios, who was at 144.

But the 14-time Grand Slam winner and former world No. 1 vowed to fight on in an effort to restore his reputation as the sport’s most feared competitor. “So I lost. Sad today for that, obviously,” said Nadal, who came into the tournament ranked at 10, his lowest in a decade. “But that’s sport. Good moments, bad moments. Obviously today is a bad moment for me. I just need to accept these kind of things can happen. I did that all my career. I will keep going. It’s not the end. Life continues and my career, too. I have to keep going and working more than ever to try to change that dynamic.”

This year, Nadal has looked a shadow of the player he once was. He missed the defence of his US Open title in 2014 due to a wrist injury and then underwent an appendectomy, shutting down most of the second half of the year.

He lost at the French Open for only the second time in his career last month, knocked out in the quarterfinals by Novak Djokovic after arriving in Paris having failed for the first time to have won a European clay-court title.

He’s been at a career crossroads before — his defeat by Darcis at Wimbledon in 2013 was followed just three months later by his second US Open title. Despite that evidence, Nadal knows that a third Wimbledon crown may be beyond him especially with the grass courts proving the most demanding of all the surfaces on his troublesome knees.

“2012 and 2013, I was not ready to compete well. Last year and this year, no problems at all with my knees. So I was ready to compete. I lost. I don’t know if I will be back to the level of 2008 or 2010 or 2007 or 2006 or ‘11. My motivation is try to be back to that level. I am going to keep working on that.” — AFP