Wimbledon Day 1: Steve Darcis stuns Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal

The first two days at Wimbledon are normally the most frenetic of the year and 2013 has already thrown up it's fair share of incredible drama as Rafael Nadal was sensationally beaten by Steve Darcis, 7-6(4) 7-6(8) 6-4.  Firstly, huge credit to Darcis for what was a terrific performance, but I found it a rather odd ending because there was absolutely no doubt that Nadal was physically struggling.  There were many points in the third set where he was visibly limping.  I find it hard to understand why he would turn up at Wimbledon if there were serious issues with his knees unless it was something that developed during the match.  Normally after a big shock upset I am buzzing, but I felt an odd anticlimactic feeling because it was inevitable at the end that Nadal would succumb to defeat and he would not be able to come through in 5 sets.  I also wanted to see a Nadal-Federer quarter-final!

Sara Errani joined Nadal on the sidelines as she was bundled out by a superb performance from Monica Puig, 6-3 6-2.  The Italian has never looked at home on the grass, but I expected her to at least get through a few rounds.  Errani's section also lost Varvara Lepchenko today so there will definitely be a surprise name in the 4th round and I really hope its Puig.  In other matches, Petra Kvitova toiled to victory over Coco Vandeweghe in 3 sets and Sloane Stephens overcame a tired Jamie Hampton, 6-3 6-3. Victoria Azarenka suffered a huge injury scare against Maria Joao Koehler as she hurt her knee in a heavy fall, but came through in straight sets and Maria Sharapova edged past Kiki Mladenovic in a high quality straight sets win.

Tomorrow I will start my day previews of the action.  I had a pretty poor day of predictions, but what an amazing day of tennis!