Friday, June 29, 2012

Strawberries and Cream from Wimbledon: A shocker as unknown Lukas Rosol defeats Nadal in the second round



Nadal is ranked number two in the world and he is an eleven time Grand Slam champ.

Since 2005, Nadal has only lost at Wimbledon in the finals.

On the other hand, Rosol is ranked 100 and has lost in the first round of the qualifying  at Wimbledon for the last five years.

Yet, Rosol was playing "in the zone" for the entire match and overpowered Nadal when it counted the most-- especially in the fifth set.

There was a half hour break between the fourth and fifth sets as the call was made to close the roof. Perhaps, Rosol would contemplate his 'unreal' freaky performance and falter in the final set.

Instead, Rosol maintained his high level of play. Nadal was stunned and stymied as he could not play his uncanny game of scrambling from side to side and utilizing his top spin retrievals. He was effectively 'frozen in his tracks.'

The New York Times reporter Christopher Clarey aptly summarized the tone of the match:  "The final game of Nadal's  2012 Wimbledon went like this: ace from Rosol up the T at 132 miles per hour; second serve and huge forehand winner; ace up the T at 134 m.p.h.; on match point, ace wide at 129 m.p.h."

The match was a wonder to behold and I can only wonder how many more rounds Lukas will advance.
Image source (1)

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