THE Shark took a sizeable bite out of Wimbledon last night as Steve Darcis, nicknamed after the fearsome predator, defeated Rafael Nadal in straight sets.
As Andy Murray glided into the clear waters of the second round with a straightforward victory over Benjamin Becker, of Germany, Nadal succumbed to the world No.135, losing 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (10-8), 6-4 in a stunning upset that recalled the Mallorcan's defeat by Lukas Rosol last year.
That loss was followed by Nadal taking seven months out of the game to undergo surgery on his knees. His movement seemed laboured yesterday against the Belgian but the Spaniard was typically gracious in his post-match comments while Darcis, whose nickname comes from his interest in sharks that started as a young boy, revelled in his new-found invincibility, claiming he now wanted to swim with the predators.
"'The only thing I can say is to congratulate Steve Darcis," said the Spaniard who has won two Wimbledon titles.
"He played a fantastic match. Everything that I will say today about my knee is an excuse, and I don't like making any excuse when I'm losing a match like I lost today. He deserves not one excuse."
However, Nadal pulled out of the Halle grass-court tournament last week after his considerable exertions in wining his eighth French Open and was laboured against Darcis. He now retreats to his home in Majorca to lick his wounds but his departure from the tournament takes one major obstacle out of the path of Murray. The Scot was scheduled to meet Nadal in the semi-finals but said the defeat of his friend and rival was "irrelevant" in terms of his chances of winning his first Wimbledon.
The Scot, who defeated Becker 6-4, 6-3, 6-2, said: "I'm sure for you guys in the press it's very relevant, but for the players, especially me, it's irrelevant. I have to win at least four more matches before that would even become something I would think about. It's obviously surprising. But, you know, the consistency that Rafa, Roger [Federer], Novak [Djokovic] have shown in the slams over the last five, six years, it's going to be almost impossible to keep that up forever."
Murray now faces Taipei's Yen-Hsun Lu in the second round. "I know quite a lot about him. I lost to him in the Olympics in 2008 in Beijing. It was a very tough loss for me. I learnt a lot from that match," he said.
The defeat of Nadal was good news for Federer, who was scheduled to meet his perennial foe in the quarter-finals. The Swiss, seeking his eighth Wimbledon title, dismissed the limited challenge of Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-3, 6-2, 6-0 on Centre Court.
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