London: Britain's Andy Murray has backed ex-Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal to rebound from his shock first-round exit at SW19 on Monday. Nadal was beaten by world No. 135 Steve Darcis of Belgium in straight sets, 7-6, 7-6, 6-4, but the upset did not faze Murray who is trying to become the first British man to win the Wimbledon singles title since Fred Perry triumphed in 1936.
"I could see what was happening via the scoreboard on Centre Court at each change of ends, but to be honest I didn't think much about it at the time as I was concentrating on my match," wrote the No. 2 seed in the BCC. "I know Rafa was in my half of the draw, but I would have to win five matches before it even became an issue for me, so it doesn't alter my thinking at all right now.
"I'm sure there will be people writing Rafa off left, right and centre because he lost in the first round, but that happens sometimes. He'll be back. I've no idea how bad his knee is and whether it affected him, but I'm sure the thing he found really difficult was that this year he's played predominantly on clay."
Murray cited Nadal not having a warm-up even on grass after Roland Garros as a major factor. "He was playing against a guy who likes playing on grass - Darcis beat Tomas Berdych in the first round of the Olympics here last year, so he likes this surface. Players get injured a lot and you often have niggles that you have to deal with. Sometimes they make no difference to how you play, sometimes they make a big difference, but the thing with injuries is that if you say something about it afterwards, you're called a sore loser," wrote Murray.
The fact is everybody's got used to the top guys dominating at the end of Grand Slams and that can't go on forever. It feels like a big surprise that Rafa is out, and last year it was a huge shock when he lost to Lukas Rosol, but I'm sure that in the years to come it won't be so surprising because there's going to be more guys coming up and challenging."
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