2012 Wimbledon Day 4: Nadal's Loss Looms Large

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Day 4 of Wimbledon was dominated by 11-time major champion Rafael Nadal's worst loss in a Grand Slam since 2005; the only other upsets of note were two French players Marion Bartoli(9) and Gilles Simon(13) being dismissed from the tournament. On the men's side the other seeds Andy Murray(4), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga(5), David Ferrer(7), Juan Martin del Potro(9), Mardy Fish(10), Marin Cilic(16) and Fernando Verdasco(17)  all won. Nadal's absence from the draw could have a profound impact on the future of one of these players, one of which should be expected to make the final a week from Sunday.


On the women's side Maria Sharapova(1) completed her postponed second round match, while Serena Williams(6), Petra Kvitova(4), Victoria Azarenka(2), Angelique Kerber(8) also won. Additionally, players to win who should be noted are Ana Ivanovic, Tamira Paszek, Klara Zakopalova and Nadia Petrova.


The Williams Sisters played their first doubles match of the tournament, easily winning. 


Match of the Day: L. Rosol CZE d. R. Nadal ESP (2) 6-7(9) 6-4 6-4 2-6 6-4.
6-foot 5-inch, 178-pound Czech 26-year-old Lukas Rosol played the match of his life, hitting 65 winners (to 29 unforced errors) against the Spaniard, including 22 aces. It was a high-quality affair with Nadal hitting 41 winners (to only 16 unforced errors). Rosol simply played lights-out tennis for roughly three hours, hitting backhand and forehand winners at almost 100 mph and regularly serving in the 130 mph range. Nadal probably did well to even make it a 5-set match. In the 5th sets Rosol had 20 winners to 2 unforced errors. Nadal had reached the finals of the last 5 times he had played Wimbledon while Rosol had lost in the first round of the qualifying the last 5 times he had played the tournament. Nadal had never lost to a lower ranked player in a major tournament ever!