Nadal goes down at Queen's Club, first loss in last 25 matches

For the first time since March, Rafael Nadal walked off the tennis court a loser Friday in London. The new world No. 1 dropped his quarterfinal match at the Aegon Championships to fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez by a score of 7-6 (5), 6-4.

The defeat is Nadal's first in 25 matches and comes in his first week as the No. 1 player in the world. All things considered, the result was probably as good as a loss can ever be for a player like Nadal.

Rafa's goal for Queen's was to get some grass-court matches under his belt before Wimbledon. He accomplished that. Sure, everyone wants to win every time they go out on the court, but after playing five tournaments in the last two months, Nadal could use the rest.

Quarterfinal losses at Queen's Club have been a harbinger of bad Wimbledon tidings for Nadal though. The Spaniard lost in the quarters in both 2006 and 2007 and then went on to lose in the finals of the grass-court major. When Nadal took the Queen's Club title in 2008, he beat Roger Federer three weeks later to hoist the trophy at Wimbledon. Rafa hadn't lost on grass since that 2007 Wimbledon final, a streak of 14 matches.

Nadal's loss, combined with Andy Murray dropping his suspended match to Mardy Fish, means that none of the top-6 seeds are left at the tournament. American Sam Querrey is the highest seed (No. 7) remaining.