Jonathan Mahler, Columnist

Nadal's Loss Confirms His Awful Greatness

What happened to Rafael Nadal? How did he lose -- in straight sets! -- in the first round of Wimbledon to the 135th-ranked Steve Darcis?

June 24, 2013 at 9:50 PM UTC

By Jonathan Mahler

Jonathan Mahler is a sports columnist for Bloomberg View. He is the author of the best-selling "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning," the basis for the eight-part ESPN mini-series. He also wrote "The Challenge," the winner of the 2009 Scribes Book Award, and "Death Comes to Happy Valley." A longtime contributor to the New York Times Magazine and the Times Book Review, Mahler has written for numerous other publications including the Washington Post, Slate, the New Republic and New York magazine. He lives in New York.

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

What happened to Rafael Nadal? How did he lose -- in straight sets! -- in the first round of Wimbledon to the 135th-ranked Steve Darcis?

Every major upset demands an explanation. But the first thing to keep in mind here is that Nadal didn't do a whole lot better at the tournament last year, losing in the second round to the 100th-ranked Lukas Rosol. (At least Darcis qualified for Wimbledon last year, which is more than Rosol had done the year before knocking off Nadal.)