Second round, first round, fourth round, second round. These have been two-time Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal’s last four finishes at the All England Club. After reaching the finals five consecutive times from 2006-2011 (missing 2009 due to injury), the 14-time Grand Slam champion has fallen four straight times to players ranked outside of the top 100. This year, he lost to Dustin Brown, a 30-year-old journeyman from Germany, who undoubtedly played the match of his life to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for just the second time in his career.

In the past four years at Wimbledon, the legendary Spaniard has been defeated by fearless, unknown players with nothing to lose, desperate for the Grand Slam prize money. Dustin Brown’s total prize money year to date is $40,167. By beating Nadal, he has just earned $120,205 for reaching the third round at the All England Club. Hunger has proven to be the human species’ most primal motivation, and the 102nd ranked German can finally buy himself a substantial meal this year. Brown was hungry for the win and hungry for some food as well.

Although these early losses at Wimbledon have been nearly humiliating, they are understandable. Lukas Rosol, Steve Darcis, Nick Kyrgios and Dustin Brown played nearly magical, god-like tennis to take down Nadal, going for broke, hitting every ball as hard as they could, giving 20 times the effort they usually do in matches in desperation of the prize money and attention they had never before attained in their careers. Also, the speedy, slick courts of Wimbledon do not favor the Spaniard in the early rounds, as the grass is still lush and green resulting in lower bounces that he does not prefer. The conditions of the courts favor ball bashers and flat hitters, which perfectly describe the four most recent men that have defeated Nadal at Wimbledon.

After this most recent loss, many are predicting that the currently 10th ranked player may never get back to his Grand Slam winning form again. 2013 was a career year for Nadal, winning 10 titles including Roland Garros and the US Open, after a seven month injury layoff due to knee tendonitis. In 2014, he reached the final of the Australian Open, and won a ninth career title at the French Open. Since then, he has experienced the worst ever 12 month stretch of his career. He was upset by Australian young gun, Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon last year and then lost his number one ranking. He suffered a right wrist injury shortly afterwards which resulted in him failing to defend his titles at the Rogers Cup, Cincinnati and the US Open. He made his return at the China Open, losing to Martin Klizan in the third round, and proceeded to lose to Feliciano Lopez and Borna Coric in subsequent tournaments due to appendicitis.

2015 has undeniably been the most frustrating year of Nadal’s career. Although healthy and injury-free, the Spaniard has suffered from a severe lack of confidence. His lack of match play in the second half of 2014 resulted in a slow start to the year. He has lost 12 times, half the time to players ranked outside the top 10. The “King of Clay” suffered from a dismal clay court season, failing to win a French Open warm up tournament for the first time since 2004. His arch rival Novak Djokovic finally got the best of him in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros, resulting in only Nadal’s second loss at the second Grand Slam of the year in eleven appearances. His ranking has fallen to 10, his lowest position since 2005. In many matches he has appeared as just a shadow of his once invincible self, his legendary forehand failing him in key moments.

Although the state of the 14-time Grand Slam champion’s career appears bleak, his early loss at Wimbledon rewards him with over a month-long break before his start to the US summer hardcourt season. This will provide him with the rest that he needs to settle his mind and body, and the time to train and restructure his game. This month-long break between Wimbledon and the summer hardcourt season has always been a time of refocus and improvement. In 2010, he changed the technique on his serve, and it reached record speeds at the US Open. In 2013, he made major adjustments to his return position, standing much closer to the baseline than he ever had before, taking aggressive cuts on his opponents’ serves. Both years, he won the US Open. Both years, he conquered his arch-nemesis Djokovic in the final.

This year, one of the greatest players of all-time can do it again. There is extra motivation- Nadal has no points to defend for the rest of the year, which means his ranking can improve drastically if he performs well on the US hardcourts. He must find the confidence in his forehand again, and make technical adjustments to his serve to improve its power and speed. If he can manage to pull off what would be a miraculous win at Flushing Meadows this year, his confidence will soar and propel him into 2016.

Nadal holds the record for Grand Slam consistency, he has gone 10 consecutive years winning at least one major title per year. In order to extend that record, he must win this upcoming US Open. There are two reasons the 29-year-old from Mallorca holds the record: his ability to problem solve and his indomitable spirit. He must fix the problems in his game and fight harder than ever before if he wishes to extend that record to 11 years.

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About the author
Paul Choi
There is no such thing as bad press.