Three days after winning the French Open, Rafael Nadal learned the hard way what he needs to do to succeed at Wimbledon.
German wild card Alexander Waske upset the 19-year-old Spaniard 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the first round of the Gerry Weber Open -- a key warmup for Wimbledon -- to snap Nadal's 24-match winning streak.
All those wins came on clay, and on Wednesday his serve wasn't powerful enough on the faster surface of grass.
PHOTO: AFP
"I belong to those people who want to learn when things don't go well," Nadal said. "I will go to Wimbledon five days early and work on my serve."
Nadal complained of fatigue, plus a mild thigh strain and blistered finger.
"I'm tired -- I need two or three days off," said Nadal. "My fitness is not the best. When I go to the net I am too slow. My fitness is a big part of my game."
The match turned in the 147th-ranked Waske's favor when the third-seeded Nadal netted two drop shots to fall behind 6-5 in the second set, losing his serve for the first time.
"I played a horrible game," Nadal said. "I started well, but it is hard to concentrate after so many matches at the French."
Cheered on by 9,000 spectators, Waske -- known as a doubles specialist -- received a standing ovation when he volleyed into the open court to close out the two-hour match.
Nadal, who had trouble with the trajectory of his strokes and over-relied on topspin, still expects to do well at Wimbledon.
"My confidence didn't just come from the French. I won five titles before that -- I've played good all year," he said.
He has played just one previous tournament on grass as a pro -- reaching the third round of Wimbledon two years ago. Last year, his grass-court season was wiped out by an ankle injury.
Australian Open champion Marat Safin saved a match point before advancing when Fabrice Santoro retired with a left thigh injury in the third set. The second-seeded Russian led 3-6, 7-6 (7), 3-2.
Safin, who had lost seven of his previous eight matches against Santoro, erased the match point with Santoro up 6-5 in the second-set tiebreaker.
Safin won only his second match on grass in three years while fighting a knee injury that has bothered him for two months.
Also, Olivier Rochus defeated eighth-seeded Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (2), 6-3.
Defending champion Andy Roddick easily beat Australia's Mark Philippoussis 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday in the second round of the Queen's grass-court tournament.
Philippoussis opened with three straight aces, but the second-seeded American responded with 10 aces, including one that was clocked at 243kph. Roddick holds the world record for fastest serve at 249kph.
"I wasn't super-comfortable with the draw," Roddick said. "But I felt I played about as well as I could have asked for in the first match."
Roddick, who won the Wimbledon warmup in 2003 and last year, took a 3-2 lead after breaking the 1997 champion at love. A strong return then forced a backhand error to give Roddick a second break.
In a match of short rallies, Philippoussis failed to gain a point on Roddick's serve in the second set as the American once more forced a backhand error with a big return to get the only break at 3-3.
"I felt like I lifted my percentages a lot in the second set and was putting a lot of first serves in," Roddick said. "That put the onus on him to try to figure something out."
Also, Mario Ancic, the last player to defeat Roger Federer on grass in the opening round of Wimbledon in 2002, earned a comfortable 6-4, 6-4 win over Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic.
The young Croatian next plays 18-year-old Richard Gasquet of France, who ousted Britain's Jamie Delgado 6-4, 6-1.
Big-serving Max Mirnyi of Belarus set up a third round clash with former champion and top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt. Mirnyi topped Italy's Davide Sanguinetti 6-4, 6-3.
American wild card James Blake also advanced, overcoming Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-2, 6-4 to earn a meeting with Sebastien Grosjean of France.
Defending champions Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday led the way into the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals, with Carlos Alcaraz hot on their heels after a straight-sets victory of his own. Sinner shrugged off a mid-match weather delay lasting nearly three hours as he advanced 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) over Adrian Mannarino. Alcaraz, the second seed who has reached the final in his past six tournaments, hammered Italian lucky loser Luca Nardi 6-1, 6-4. After sweeping the opening set in 28 minutes, Alcaraz hit a speed bump, dropping his serve to trail 2-4. He promptly regained the break, then fought through a marathon ninth game
Taiwan’s men’s basketball team on Monday clinched a spot in the FIBA Asia Cup quarter-finals with a 78-64 win over Jordan in Saudi Arabia, securing their best finish in the tournament since placing fourth in 2013. The win was sweet revenge for Taiwan, who were denied a quarter-final spot by Jordan at the same stage of the previous Asia Cup in 2022 after blowing a nine-point lead in the final minute and losing 97-96 on a half-court buzzer-beater. “History is part of the journey,” Taiwan head coach Gianluca Tucci said when asked about the 2022 collapse of the team, who he did
STUMBLE: World No. 2 Coco Gauff confidently won her first set against seventh-seed Italian Jasmine Paolini before being overcome in the second and third sets World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and second-ranked Coco Gauff were sent crashing out of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Friday, while Carlos Alcaraz fought off a fierce challenge from Andrey Rublev to reach the semi-finals. Top seed and defending champion Sabalenka had no answer for Elena Rybakina, falling to the 2022 Wimbledon champion 6-1, 6-4. Reigning French Open champion Gauff had 16 double faults in a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 exit at the hands of seventh-seeded Italian Jasmine Paolini. Spain’s second-ranked Alcaraz had his difficulties, but he broke Rublev in the final game of a tense duel to emerge a 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 winner
Taiwan’s national basketball team on Wednesday suffered a heartbreaking loss, ending their FIBA Asia Cup run after Iran staged a dramatic comeback to secure a 78-75 victory in the quarter-finals at King Abdullah Sports City in Saudi Arabia. Taiwan were in front for 38 minutes, 30 seconds of the 40-minute game. Iran only took the lead in the final minute, but it was enough to knock Taiwan out of the tournament. With the win, Iran advanced to tomorrow’s semi-finals, when they face Australia. The loss ended a promising campaign for Taiwan, who had been aiming for their first semi-final appearance since the 2013 FIBA
RSS