Lukas Rosol- wow.

Can anyone quite believe what they have just seen? Definition of an underdog rising to the challenge! 90 miles per hour groundstrokes, games full of aces, unbelievable energy and confidence: a player of sustained brilliance.

You could feel the tension between the two players on court. The Czech waving his racket around like a wand, jogging back to his chair, playing at a fast pace- he was getting under the no.2's skin. Nadal looking up to Uncle Tony in despair, playing his usual consistent tennis but nothing was working against the world's no.100!! I know there have been many classics in recent years at Wimbledon with the 2007 final between Rafa and Roger springing to mind but none with quite this level of shock factor.

Nadal knocked out in the second round

After the marathon first set tie-break, Nadal looked on course to reach the third round edging it 11-9. However, immediately it was clear that Rosol had different ideas on his mind. Playing in his first Wimbledon, he broke the Spaniards serve in the opening game of the second set and produced an awe inspiring selection of winners from all over the court. The question on many peoples lips at this point: could this player keep up this sort of intensity? The answer was yes. Nadal unable to subdue Rosol in both the second and third sets, he dug in to break serve at the start of the fourth set to level the match at 2 sets a piece. With the light fading fast, officials decided to close the Centre Court roof to enable the match to be finished. After a half-hour delay the players returned to the court to an ecstatic and roaring response. Rosol immediately broke Nadal's serve as he continued to subject the world number two to a barrage of aces and outrageous winners eventually taking the final and decisive set 6-4. He had done it. 

"a miracle"

One of my initial reactions towards Rosol: is this guy taking something to enhance his performance? Purely to my disbelief that he was able to sustain such a high level of tennis and utterly smashing Nadal off the court- an extremely rare site to behold. Unbelievably, this is the first time that Rafa has lost before the third round of a grand slam since he was beaten by Gilles Mueller in the second round at Wimbledon in 2005. But this time to a gutsy Czech with no single titles to his name!
So moving onto the next part of Lukas's journey where he will face Philipp Kolshieber who funnily enough beat Nadal this year in the Gerry Weber Open. The German is ranked number 27  in the world but clearly rankings are nothing when Rosol is involved! 
For British fans tonight's result could be good news for Murray as Nadal was definitely seen as the biggest threat in his half of the draw. Now, the anticipation awaits to see whether Rosol is in fact the real deal or a one hit wonder. Nonetheless I don't know about you, but I still can't quite believe the tennis match I have just witnessed!