Clijsters warns Rosol to stay grounded
Former world No 1 Kim Clijsters warned Wimbledon giant-killer Lukas Rosol to keep his feet on the ground after claiming the Czech was "a little bit arrogant" during his shock win over Rafael Nadal.
Like the rest of the tennis world, Clijsters was stunned to see world number 100 Rosol beat two-time Wimbledon champion Nadal in five sets on Thursday.
But the Belgian felt Rosol had showed signs of arrogance during the epic Centre Court tussle and she is fascinated to discover if the 26-year-old journeyman lets the victory go to his head.
Rosol faces German 27th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber in the last 16 and four-time grand slam champion Clijsters will be watching to see if he can stay grounded.
"I'm curious to see how he's going to play because to me he looked a little bit arrogant out there, so I wonder how he'll react in his next match, if he can stay grounded, keep his feet on the ground, and try to keep that result going," Clijsters said after her third round win over Vera Zvonareva on Friday.
"You can beat Nadal, but if you lose the next round then nobody cares too much. I'm definitely going to watch him on Saturday to see how he will play."
Clijsters is big fan of Nadal and had hoped the Spaniard would mount a comeback in the final set, but she admits even the 11-time grand slam champion had no chance in the face of an inspired display from Rosol.
"I just wanted Nadal to win and come back. I think he did everything right to try to stay in the match, especially in the fifth set. But the guy played incredible," she added.
"It's adrenaline. Somebody said during the commentary that it was his first time playing at Wimbledon? It was unbelievable.
"The decisions he was making, whenever he touched the ball, it was either a winner or an ace."
