Jose Mourinho turned up to watch Rafael Nadal at Queen’s but his presence failed to inspire the great Spaniard who made an abrupt exit from the Aegon Championships.
With the Chelsea manager sitting courtside behind his coach and uncle Toni, Nadal went out of the first round 6-3, 7-6, 6-4 to Alex Dolgopolov of Ukraine, the world No 79.
The 29 year-old Spaniard only arrived in London on Sunday night, having won the inaugural Stuttgart Open on grass that afternoon. Yet despite that his confidence is evidently still short of the levels which took him to 14 Grand Slams.
Rafael Nadal was beaten in the first round of the Aegon Championships at Queen's Club on Tuesday
The former world No 1 waves to the Queen's Club crowd after suffering another disappointing loss
The Spaniard was beaten in three sets by world No 79 Alexandr Dolgopolov
Dolgopolov celebrates his famous victory after winning the match in two hours and 13 minutes
Nadal waves to the crowd as he leaves the court following his shock defeat by Dolgopolov
Nadal is always more vulnerable on a slick new grass court with relatively skiddy bounce, and Dolgopolov is among the trickiest of opponents. Few players possess his array of unorthodox spin and a whippy action makes his serve very difficult to read.
The Spaniard must now plan his approach to Wimbledon, and finds himself with an unexpected singles void thirteen days before the first ball is struck at the All England Club. He is, however, still in the doubles competition.
It looked like he had turned round the situation when he saved a match point with a swinging serve out wide at 5-6 in the tiebreak before winning it 8-6.
He led 4-2 with a break of serve in the decider and was given a time violation as the talented 26 year-old Ukrainian, something of an underachiever, clawed himself back into it with a break.
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