When Rafael Nadal was knocked out in the second round of Wimbledon by Lukas Rosol in 2012, there was this feeling of: yeah history will not repeat itself again; even if the great Spaniard is only 50 percent fit, he will not lose in the early rounds at Wimbledon again.
Well in a way, history did not repeat itself, and lightning did not strike twice, because Nadal, this time, lost on the opening day of Wimbledon 2013, and with it one of the favorites and most popular players on the circuit, found himself taking a flight home from London way too early again.
Nadal, to the shock of everyone watching around the world, bowed out in straight sets to the inspired Steve Darcis, whose previous two big wins was against Richard Gasquet and Mikhail Youzhny, in the first round.
The score of 7-6 (4), 7-6 (8), 6-4 did not matter; it was the manner in which Nadal lost that made the match almost unbearable to watch.
Nadal has just come off an incredible triumph at the French Open, for a record eighth time - even at Roland Garros he started the first few rounds slowly, before clicking into gear in the second week of the tournament.
So when the 12-time Grand slam champion lost the first set in a tiebreak, there was this feeling of Nadal going through just another slow start and it only being a matter of time before he was his usual brutal self again.
However, that just did not happen. Darcis kept playing brilliantly, and Nadal was a shadow of a shadow of himself.
Even the usual running to get to every ball was beyond him - Nadal was clearly hampered by the knee which kept him out of the game for so long.
But such is the class of the man that he refused to use that as a reason for the loss to Darcis.
"There were not a lot of good things for me," Nadal, who looked inconsolable but kept his composure, said.
"Now is not the right time to talk about my knee. The only thing I can do is congratulate my opponent. It is not a tragedy, I lost, it is sport.
"I'm confident that I will recover and be ready for the next tournaments. I have played far more than I expected after my injury and I will try my best for the next couple of years."
Credit of course should be given to Darcis, who played as well as he could possibly have and came up against an opponent who was clearly not at his best.
"I think today I serve very good," Darcis said. "I could use a lot of slice. And I think he didn't like it so much.
"Of course, he didn't play his best tennis. But I knew it is the first match on grass for him. Me, I played already four. So I think it helped me today.
"Physically, it (his knee) looks OK. I think he was running, he was moving good. Of course, you don't beat Nadal if he's playing his best tennis, I think."
Such is Nadal's toughness that despite struggling with his knee, he did not call a trainer and just kept pushing himself trying to find that wicked forehand of his - unlike the winner, who made a little too much of an injury before making a miraculous recovery to cruise in straight sets, of the previous match on the same court.
On Monday evening, though, on the hallowed turf of the All-England club, for the second straight year, the magic just failed to light up; and with it the dream quarterfinal between Nadal and Federer went up in a puff of smoke.
