Rafael Nadal, the four year reigning champion in the clay grounds of Roland Garros in Paris, had lost his very first match, ever, since his first appearance in the grand slam event, to an unexpected opponent, Robin Soderling.
it spells nothing but sheer devastation, shocking, disbelief.
Nadal was chasing history to be the only man, in the open era, to win the Roland Garros five times, consecutively. Nadal was the champion in Roland Garros for the past four years, only leveling the record of Bjorn Borg. do not be mistaken, eventhough only leveling Borg, it is definately still an amazing feat performed by Nadal. Nadal's record on Roland Garros was 31-1. a record breaking of 31 consecutive wins until that very one match he lost to Soderling this afternoon.
Nadal, was never pushed to the fifth set by any player on Roland Garros. and in 2008, he won the slam without dropping a set and came out firing in the final, destroying Federer who only managed to win 4 games out of the whole match.
on the ATP website, it says that the king of clay had been dethroned but i say otherwise. it does not take just a match to dethrone a king, this just was not his day, not his game. and coming in to Roland Garros, Nadal won 4 out of 5 titles on clay.
on the press conference, Nadal mentioned that he will not make any excuses on the windy condition and that his loss was entirely his fault, playing short on the balls, allowing Soderling to attack, and surely also acknowledging Soderling had played well too. to add to the suprise cum davastating factor, Nadal, in the ATP tour in Rome, bashed Soderling 6-1, 6-0 in the round of 16.
i thought Nadal would write history like writing ABC but guess not this time. Nadal is only a human, another player (but a very good one) and sometimes even the best loses. (excuse me but i am seriously trying to make myself feel better.)
i may be mean, but i hope Federer's name will not be engraved below Nadal's. neither do i want Murray. anybody else. but Federer. but Nadal told the press that he would favor Federer winning the title as he would like to see him winning and if anyone, Federer is the most deserving one to win the title. but no, i still do not want Federer to hold the trophy.
"I must accept my defeats with the calm that I accept my victories."
-Rafael Nadal.
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