For the second time in two years, Rafael Nadal suffered one of the biggest upsets in Wimbledon history when the 135th-ranked Belgian Steve Darcis knocked out the former world No. 1 in straight sets, 7-6, 7-6, 6-4. After nearly a decade on the ATP circuit, the 29-year-old Belgian had his Wimbledon moment on Monday when he stunned the 12-time Grand Slam singles champion, and here's a look at who this giant killer is.
Born in Liege, the French-speaking part of Belgium, Darcis is not an unknown entity on the ATP circuit having won two singles titles - the Dutch Open in 2007 on clay and the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships (hard court) in 2008.
Darcis attained a career-high singles ranking of World No. 44 on May 12, 2008, and reached the final of the Dutch Open second time in a row only to lose to Spaniard Albert Montanes. Six weeks before this Wimbledon, Darcis was ranked 105th that earned him a direct entry into the main draw this year.
Nadal is not the first high-profile player to be downed by the 'Shark' as the Belgian is popularly known as for the S-shaped shark tattoo on his shoulder. In the 2011 French Open, Darcis pulled off a shock victory over 22nd seed Michael Llodra in the first round and made the quarter-finals in Vienna beating Nikolay Davydenko. Darcis also scalped World No. 6 Tomas Berdych in the first round of the 2012 London Olympics.
After upsetting Nadal, Darcis will now be facing Lukasz Kubot of Poland, ranked 130th, in the second round at Wimbledon .
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