Nadal Left Shaking His Head After Australian Open Exit

Rafael Nadal was left shaking his head on Tuesday at the Australian Open after he suffered just his second first-round exit at a Grand Slam championship.

The 2009 champion and fifth seed seed insisted he felt competitive during his five-set loss to fellow Spaniard and left-hander Fernando Verdasco, but could not explain how he had failed to convert practice court form into a match situation.

"The match is a tough one to lose for me obviously," said Nadal. "It's not like last year, when I arrived here playing bad and not feeling ready for it. This year was a completely different story. I have been playing and practising great and working so much. It is tough when you work so much and arrived at a very important event and you're going out too early.

"I know I did everything that I could to be ready for it. It was not my day. There is no more things to do other than keep practising hard and keep practising the same way that I have been doing for the past four, five months."

Nadal led 2-0 in the fifth set, but Verdasco reeled off six games for a 7-6(6), 4-6, 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 in four hours and 41 minutes.

"In terms of being competitive, I was competitive," said Nadal, who is now 14-3 lifetime against Verdasco. "In terms of creating damage to the opponent with my forehand, I didn't. So I was hitting forehands, and he was able to keep hitting winners. [It] cannot happen when I am hitting my forehand... That was the biggest issue for me today.

"I was not enough aggressive with my forehand during the whole match. I didn't feel it. I tried. I fought. I was ready to do it, [but] I didn't... [But] I don't know [one] hundred per cent the reason, to be honest."

The only other time that Nadal had lost in the first round of a Grand Slam champion was at Wimbledon 2013, when he lost to Belgium's Steve Darcis.

"I play majors the same way I play other tournaments all the year," said Nadal. "All my life, I have played every tournament by putting all that I have there... I try my best in every single match of the year. That's it. Sometimes you have success; sometimes you do not. Today it is obvious that I didn't.

"He played so aggressive, and the serve was huge for him today. I just [want to] congratulate him because he deserved [it], and I wish him all the best for the rest of the tournament."

Seven years ago, Verdasco arrived in Melbourne having spent the off-season working with Andre Agassi's former trainer, Gil Reyes. In the best shape of his life, he swept into the Australian Open semi-finals, but was unable to get the better of Nadal in a five-set loss. At five hours and 14 minutes, it was the second-longest match (in terms of duration) in the championship's history.

Australian Open 2016: Rafael Nadal crashes out at hands of Fernando Verdasco

Seven years ago, Rafael Nadal outlasted Fernando Verdasco in a semi-final that, to that point, was the longest Australian Open match in history: five hours, 14 minutes. 

History repeated at Melbourne Park on Tuesday, as Nadal and Verdasco produced a sequel that proved nearly as lengthy, but this time the original epic was eclipsed in this critical, unthinkable respect: Nadal lost.

Early exit: Rafael Nadal. Photo: AP

In the Australian Open's most significant upset yet, Verdasco ousted Nadal 7-6, 4-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2. What made the result most surprising was the nature of the defeat: Nadal had led 2-0 in the fifth set - at which point, you wouldn't have backed Verdasco with counterfeit money.

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But Verdasco, who belted 90 winners in the course of the 4 hours 41 minutes, unexpectedly raised his game and then reeled off both a succession of winners, aces and games. He won the last six games and essentially dusted a passive Nadal off the court.

A typically generous Nadal said he had his chances, but had been beaten by a man who had chanced his arm and played the better tennis. "I had my chances in the fourth (set) too... He played better than me. He was more aggressive than me. He took more risks than me."

Nadal, indeed, had not played daring enough tennis and thought he was caught between attacking and defending. "You cannot be in the middle of being offensive and defensive."

Verdasco said of his fifth set run: "I think I played unbelievable in the fifth set....I kept hitting winners...I don't know how."

It was surprising, and thrilling - though it is also reasonable to wonder if we were seeing confirmation of Nadal's gradual decline, as his body's struggles begin to afflict his own faith. He entered the tournament expressing confidence in his body and training, but he did not produce it and has been sent out in the first round of a major for only the second time.

The outcome was a reversal of the normal pattern for Nadal, who is harder to beat in battles of will and endurance than nearly anyone in the game's history. That he lost the first set was no cause for concern for Rafa fans - it merely confirmed that this match would be a long day's journey into night.

No matter how long it went, no matter how he battled against the explosive Verdasco, it was hard to believe that Nadal would actually lose. Nadal doesn't lose these type of contests and he certainly doesn't exit grand slams on Monday or Tuesday.

Even though the opening two sets stretched for more than two hours, Nadal seemed likely to prevail for much of the match. He not only led two sets to one after dropping the first set, he also led 2-0 in the fifth set and broke back in the fourth set at 5-all.

Verdasco hasn't beaten Nadal much, as the 14-3 record suggests, but Verdasco's A game is formidable, befitting a player who's been top 50 for a dozen years.

Fernando has weapons - a monstrous left-handed serve, a heavy-duty forehand and some net craft. He was the aggressor v Nadal, and did particularly well finishing at the net. Verdasco belted an astonishing 90 winners to his more decorated compatriot's modest 37.

This time, the attacker won.

Where does this leave Nadal? Measured by results, 2015 was his least productive year since he was an precocious teen in 2004 - which is to say, he didn't win the French Open. Yet, he finished the year ranked 5.

If he's coming down, he's descending from an almighty height.

Eagles Founder Glenn Frey’s Death: A Look at Rheumatoid Arthritis, Colitis, and Pneumonia

Glenn Frey died at 67 on Jan. 18. (Photo: Corbis Images)

Glenn Frey, founder of the legendary rock band the Eagles, has died at 67 after battling several health problems.

According to the Eagles website, Frey, who was behind such hits as “Take It Easy” and “The Heat Is On,” “succumbed to complications from rheumatoid arthritis, acute ulcerative colitis, and pneumonia” on Monday (Jan. 18).

Frey’s friend and collaborator Bob Seger told the Detroit Free Press that the singer/songwriter had suffered from colitis, an inflammation of the colon lining, most of his life, but his medical issues became worse recently and he was put into a medically induced coma by his doctors.

“First he caught one set of pneumonia, then he caught a very virulent set of pneumonia,” Seger said. “They were trying like hell to keep him alive. He’d been at Columbia University Medical Center since November. (Eagles manager) Irving (Azoff) pulled every ace out of the hole — he had the eight best specialists working on Glenn. About a month ago, they had to throw up their hands.”

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