Rosol surprised by Nadal charge

Wimbledon giant-killer Lukas Rosol admitted he was surprised by Rafael Nadal’s uncharacteristic shoulder charge in the third set of his stunning second round triumph over the great Spaniard late Thursday.

A clearly rattled Nadal, who had played in the last five Grand Slam finals, slumped to his worst defeat at a major in seven years when Rosol, the world 100, clinched an historic 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 Centre Court triumph.

Nadal had become clearly irritated by Rosol’s constant movement during his service motion and made his anger clear to the umpire.

After the Czech had broken for a 2-1 lead in the third set, the two players collided at the changeover.

“I was surprised that he can do it on the Centre Court at Wimbledon. I didn’t expect it, it was his choice,” said the 26-year-old Czech.

“I thought that he wants to let me go first, you know, but then he start to walk fast. I stop because I don’t want to hit me. He hit me, and then three times he apologise. And I say, okay, okay. It was okay.”

Rosol’s five previous visits to Wimbledon had all ended in first-round defeats in qualifying.

Nadal refused to make excuses for his defeat.

“The bad thing of this is anything that I will say now will sound against me,” said Nadal.

“So, it is not the right moment for me to say what happened out there.”