LONDON, June 25 — French Open champion Rafael Nadal was knocked out of the opening round of Wimbledon in straight sets by Steve Darcis, his earliest loss in a Grand Slam event.

Darcis beat the fifth-seeded Spaniard, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (10- 8), 6-4 on Court 1 at Wimbledon. The Belgian has now won three of the eight top-tier matches he’s played in 2013.

Darcis closed the match with an ace, his 13th, while Nadal had six. Darcis produced 53 winners, compared with 32 for Nadal. Both men made 24 unforced errors.

“Nobody was expecting my win today,” Darcis told the British Broadcasting Corp. “Rafa didn’t play his best tennis today. I don’t know what to say right now, I am really happy.”

Nadal, a two-time champion at the All England Club, also struggled on the London grass courts last year, when he lost in the second round to then 100th-ranked Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic.

The 27-year-old Nadal left the men’s tour for seven months after that defeat to recover from a partially torn patella tendon and inflammation in his left knee. The injury forced him to miss the London Olympics, the US Open and the Australian Open.

Since his comeback to the men’s tour in February, Nadal has won seven titles, including a record eighth French Open championship two weeks ago at Roland Garros in Paris. Nadal had entered Wimbledon not having played a warm-up on grass, in order to rest his knees.

Low Rankings

Darcis, ranked 135th on the men’s ATP World Tour, had lost in the first round in 12 of 18 previous Grand Slam appearances, including last month’s French Open. His best performance at Wimbledon came in 2009, when he reached the second round. His best grass-court result came in Eastbourne last year, when he reached the semifinals.

After dropping the first set, Nadal served for the second set at 6-5. A forehand passing set up two break points for Darcis, who converted as Nadal dumped a backhand into the net. Darcis raced to a 4-2 lead in the tie-break as Nadal made backhand and forehand errors and struggled with his footing on the new grass.

Darcis set up three set points with a service winner, only to squander all of them with unforced errors. A fourth set point was lost with a backhand in the net. Nadal failed to take a set point of his own at 8-7 on a netted backhand. Instead, Darcis took a two-set lead as a Nadal forehand sailed over the baseline.

Nadal continued to struggle in the third set, dropping serve early as he occasionally pulled up his leg and seemed to have trouble changing direction.

Down 2-4, Nadal changed tactics, trying to shorten the points. Chasing a drop shot at 3-4 down, Nadal limped as he run toward the net, and ended up losing the point. Nadal failed to get the break back for 4-4, dumping yet another backhand into the net on break point.

Serving for the biggest win of his life at 5-4, Darcis got to two match points as Nadal hit a forehand wide, and won the match with an ace. – Bloomberg