Nadal crashes out on Halle grass court debut

Spanish world number one Rafael Nadal was sensationally dumped out of the Halle grasscourt tournament on Thursday by Germany’s world number 85 Dustin Brown 6-4, 6-1.

The recently-crowned nine-time French Open champion continued his struggles at the event, where he has yet to get past the quarter-finals.

Just days after winning a 14th Grand Slam on the red clay at Roland Garros, the 28-year-old Mallorca native saw his build-up for Wimbledon get off to the worst possible start against Brown, who has yet to win an ATP singles event.