The Curse of Rafa: Beating the Spaniard still means losing

Beating Rafael Nadal in a Grand Slam is an incredible accomplishment, but backing it up is nearly impossible. Most players quickly exit the tournament in the next round.

It's happened far more often than one might think. In fact, it happens so often that "The Curse of Nadal" is starting to become a legend amongst tennis fans. Most recently, Gilles Muller dug down and beat the Spaniard, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 15-13 in the fourth round of Wimbledon. The Curse struck and Muller lost to Marin Cilic in the quarterfinals.

In fact, no man has ever beaten the world No. 2 at Wimbledon (finals excluded, obviously) and gone on to win their next match. Here are those other instances:

1

2003 — Paradorn Srichaphan

2

2005 – Gilles Muller

3

2012 — Lukas Rosol

4

2013 — Steve Darcis

5

2014 — Nick Kyrgios

6

2015 — Dustin Brown

To put this in perspective, the only other Nadal showings in London have been to reach three finals and win two titles. Only time will tell whether The Curse of Nadal will stay and haunt players for Wimbledon years to come.