Defeat Nadal at your own peril
It’s as traditional at Wimbledon as the all-white playing gear rule and just as rigid -beat Rafael Nadal, lose the next round. That’s the dilemma facing Gilles Muller who will go into his maiden quarter-final at the All England Club hoping to avoid the fate of the last four men to have shocked Nadal at the tournament.
Lukas Rosol in 2012, Steve Darcis in 2013, Nick Kyrgios the following year and Dustin Brown two years ago all defied odds to knock out the great Spaniard. However, they were all then unceremoniously dumped out in the next round. “I’m pretty confident that I will be in good shape for Wednesday,” said 34-year-old Muller after his epic 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13 win.
The likes of Rosol, Darcis, Kyrgios and Brown were all similarly confident after their moments of triumph only to exit with barely a whimper one round later.
Rosol was ranked 100 when he made his Wimbledon debut five years ago. The Czech had lost in the first round of qualifying in all of the previous five years. This time though, Rosol beat Nadal 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the second round win.The miracle was short-lived.
In the third round, he w a s shunted out to Court 12 where he lost to experienced German
Philipp Kohlschreiber
6-2, 6-3, 7-6. The 31-year-old Czech, now ranked at 215, was back in qualifying this year and made the main draw where he again reached the second round losing in five sets -- to Muller. Darcis was ranked 135 when he knocked out Nadal 7-6, 7-6, 6-4 in the first round in 2013.
It was Nadal’s first ever opening round defeat at a Slam. That was as good as it got for Darcis as a shoulder injury then forced him to withdraw from the tournament handing Lukasz Kubot a walkover into the last-32.
Twelve months later, Nadal fell to 19-year-old Australian Nick Kyrgios, playing on a wildcard, in the fourth round.
Ranked 144, Kyrgios romped to a 7-6, 5-7, 7-6, 6-3 victory , becoming the first man outside the top 100 to beat a world number one at a Grand Slam since 1992. His moment in the spotlight too was short-lived as 24 hours later, he lost in four sets to Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals.“It was such a great achievement beating Nadal,” he said. “That’s something that no one can take away from me.”
Nadal was on the wrong end of yet another shock in 2015, this time at the hands of German shot-maker Dustin Brown, the world number 102. Brown claimed a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win in the second round but was also unable to maintain the momentum, losing in the third round to Serbia’s Viktor Troicki.
Unlike Rosol, Darcis, Kyrgios and Brown, 16th seed Muller is no outsider and will face seventh seeded Marin Cilic on Wednesday for a place in the semi-finals.