Rafael Nadal will not be carrying home any fond memories from his trips to London this year after he became the first player to be knocked out of the ATP World Tour Finals on Wednesday.
Five months after limping out of Wimbledon without defending his title due to aching knees, the Spaniard bore little resemblance to the player who once terrorised his opponents as he slumped to a 6-1 7-6 defeat by Russia's Nikolay Davydenko. "I fought a lot. I tried my best all the time but it wasn't enough to win these matches. That's it, no?" summed up Nadal, who lost both of his Group B clashes in straight sets.
While Nadal was left to lick his wounds, Swede Robin Soderling became the first qualifier for the semi-finals when he battered world number three Novak Djokovic 7-6 6-1 for his second major shock of the tournament. Soderling, only competing in the year-end showpiece at London's O2 Arena after Andy Roddick's injury-enforced withdrawal, backed up his opening win over Nadal with another magnificent exhibition of power and precision.
It was the kind of display Nadal would have been proud of but instead the Spaniard spent more time shaking his head in frustration than producing winners during a lopsided first set against Davydenko that flashed by in 27 minutes. Trailing 4-2 in the second set, Nadal appeared to be heading towards one of the worst defeats in his career when a child's voice boomed out from the darkened arena: "Wake up Rafa, remember you're the number two in the world."
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