Rafael Nadal suffered a shock first round exit from the Wimbledon warm-up event at Queen’s Club as the Spanish star was beaten 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-4 by unheralded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov on Tuesday.
Nadal’s dismal defeat against world number 79 Dolgopolov was the latest in a growing list of lacklustre performances in a troubled 2015 campaign for the former world number one.
The 14-time Grand Slam winner was beaten at the French Open for only the second time in his glittering career when Novak Djokovic won their quarter-final clash in Paris.
As a result, Nadal’s ranking has plunged to 10th — his lowest position for a decade — and to add insult to injury he will now head to Wimbledon, which gets underway later this month, with renewed questions about a decline that hit a new low with this setback in west London