When Roger Federer shows up at Wimbledon without Rafael Nadal looking down at him from the top of the draw, it will feel like Bjorn Borg has arrived without John McEnroe or Pete SamprasAndre Agassi. minus
In an era when Federer-Nadal showdowns are starting to reach epic proportions, the Swiss will have to go it alone for the first time next week since the 2006 Australian Open when the Spaniard missed out due to a foot injury.
The season that promised much for Nadal when he beat Federer in a thrilling five-setter to win his first Australian Open in January, unravelled on Friday.
Although the way he plays puts a huge amount of pressure on his body - the exaggerated topspin, the chasing and sliding - when it comes to the big tournaments he has generally managed to play through the pain and flatten his opponents.
On Friday, wearing a purple tee-shirt and with his shoulders sagging, he told the tennis world the news it did not want to hear.
"Unfortunately this year I won't be able to play at Wimbledon," he said.
While it may be good news for the countless players he has bullied into submission with his wicked forehand, his absence will leave a gaping hole in the draw.
A tournament without its world number one, its top seed and its champion is a little like trying to stage the Oscars without the prized golden statuettes.
It is not what sports fans wanted, especially on the back of the dramatic five-setter he won at Wimbledon 50 weeks ago to end Federer's five-year reign.
That, though, was the last of Nadal's concerns when his body started to let him down in Madrid five weeks ago.
With the spectre of a record fifth consecutive Roland Garros title looming on the horizon, he was determined to make the trip to Paris.
There was little indication how bad things were when he routed Lleyton Hewitt in the third round for the loss of five games.
Forty eight hours later his immaculate 31-0 winning streak at the French Open came to a shuddering halt. Robin Soderling caused one of the biggest upsets in tennis when he handed the Spaniard his first defeat on Paris's red soil.
While most people thought Nadal had simply failed to produce his A-game, Russian Elena Dementieva turned into an astute soothsayer when she predicted before his defeat: "He looks tired to me ... I think it's going to be a tough challenge for him to win this time".
No one took her seriously but once the news started to filter out that Nadal's aching knee joints were starting to become a major problem, American great Martina Navratilova observed: "He burned out physically and mentally.
"He played too many tournaments in a row and it just got to him."
On Friday, Nadal said he kept pushing beyond his limits.
"I've played with some problems in my knees for a few months but I always felt I'd try and try. You don't know what your limit is ... but I have now reached the limit.
"I was making an effort to play week after week ... but I have two oedema (swelling of the joint), one in each knee ... and now I'm going to be out and I don't know for how long."
With those words he followed Britain's Fred Perry (1937), American Don Budge (1939) and Croatia's Goran Ivanisevic (2002) as the only men who failed to defend their Wimbledon titles.
The season which started with his success in Melbourne and rolled on with wins in Indian Wells, Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome came to a screeching halt.
"I was happy about my season," said Nadal. "I only have one bad result this season against Soderling and the other bad result is not to play here.
"It arrived in one of the most important moments in the year and ... for that reason is tough to accept, maybe I had some mistakes in the past about the calendar, I don't know. I'm going to analyse and learn about the mistakes for next time.
"I am 23 and I hope to have a long career and come back next year ... no one is more disappointed than me and the (Wimbledon crowd) must understand I tried my best."
To compound his misery Nadal was reminded he could lose his number one ranking over the next two weeks.
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