Rafael Nadal’s Quest for First-Ever Gerry Weber Open Title Crushed by a German Wild Card

Rafael Nadal of Spain holds the trophy during the ceremony after defeating Novak Djokovic of Serbia during their men's singles final match to win the French Open Tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris June 8, 2014. — #2 Rafael Nadal Total earnings: $44.5 million Prize money: $14.5 million Endorsements: $30 million REUTERS

Rafael Nadal has just lost his chance of winning his first Gerry Weber Open title after he was ousted by German Dustin Brown in the first round of the tournament. Nadal trailed behind the German wild card with the final score of 6-4, 6-1.

Fresh from his ninth French Open title victory, Nadal somehow already prophesied the outcome in Halle, USA Today reported. "I know probably the result will not be the perfect one there," Nadal was quoted saying after winning the French Open. Nadal's defeat against Brown was his third straight loss on grass, the news outlet further reported. The top-ranked Spaniard reportedly lost all three matches to players who ranked at number 85 and below. Nadal played in grass-court matches against 100th-ranked Lukas Rosol and 135th-ranked Steve Darcis in Wimbledon in 2012 and 2013, respectively, and he lost in both instances. Nadal's recent defeat against 85th-ranked Brown was his third straight loss in grass-court matches in the last three years.

Speaking to The Associated Press as reported by ABC News, Nadal admitted that he wasn't able to develop his strength via resistance training.

"The only way I could have tried to do more was resisting with my serve, something I hadn't practiced a lot these days," Nadal said.

"For the first four games, he didn't put any returns on the court and then suddenly he was playing winners from the return, so it's difficult to analyze this kinds of matches," Nadal added.

"The only thing I can do is keep working the way that I did the last three days, because I am here." According to Nadal, he tried hard and did the best that he could.

Meanwhile, Brown was elated that he was able to banish Nadal early in the tournament. It was the first time that he had meet the Spaniard and he was overjoyed because he had never played against a top-ranked athlete before.

"I never played against a world number one before, never played him before, so this is just crazy for me," said Brown.