It naturally took a lot mentally off him, and that maybe wouldn’t even have been much evident had he not found himself with a match like this one, but it’s really very understandable.

Nole took a rest, played 1 exho on grass and adapted to it quickly but on clay it takes him longer. Rafa adapts well on to clay but takes longer on grass, Murray played a lot on grass and lost ,Federer the same.

Wimbledon being pushed back a week can only be good news for the players and help everyone.

If Rafa lost to Nole this year again in a clay coat, that would be catastrophic. But, he’s eventually figured out the way to beat Nole. This is a HUUUUUGE accomplishment for Rafa to have made this year. Given that Nole made it in the final three time during the clay season, his level is still high (although it may not be as high as last year). But, Rafa beat Nole in all matches except the one in Australia (if I am not mistaken).

So, perhaps later this year or next year, he will be back stronger and totally ready to win Wimbledon. Yes, it is disappointing and yes, I wish the match turned out to be different, but Rafa’s body language doesn’t show his devastation, which makes me feel better and hopeful for his comeback. In the end, he is human, and there are good days and bad days even for the tennis great.

Looking forward to seeing Rafa carry his country’s flag at the Olympics! Vamos!

Plus, Rafa’s mood in the press conference video was better than I expected. His mood after this loss seemed better than last year’s Wimbledon, when Rafa seemed depressed in his press conference after losing to Nole. It seems like Rafa knew he was tired after an emotional French Open win, and wasn’t ready to play his best just 2 weeks later at Wimbledon.

What do you all think?

More importantly, Rafa has been killing himself since last summer re-working his game – AGAIN – and who would be willing to keep putting themselves out like that? I’m not sure most tennis “observers” understand how much work Rafa has been doing to improve his game this year.

But boy did it finally pay off – with him playing the best tennis of his life this spring. And winning repeatedly against a player who last year gave him a lot of problems. It required extreme mental and physical energy for Rafa to do all this – much more than any previous clay seasons required of him.

Then right away he had to start all over trying to play on grass, which for him is always difficult the first several matches. It was bad luck he ran into a player like Rosol so early, who was basically unbeatable by anyone that day.

After such effort and hard work this past year, it is just too much to ask Rafa go further and deal with someone like Rosol that early in the tournament. It was like he was having to play a final match in the second round.

As other posters have observed, it is really a blessing in disguise that he has been forced to stop and rest his mind and body at this point. As Rafa said, he “needs it and deserves it” and it will do him a lot of good for the difficult season ahead.

All the great improvements he has made in his tennis (did you see all those aces!) will still be there – but only after he has been able to have a nice long break!