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London - Rafael Nadal has criticised the decision to play the Olympic tennis tournament over the best of three sets rather than the five sets employed at Wimbledon and other Grand Slams.
Nadal kicked off his bid for a third Wimbledon title with a 7-6 (7/0), 6-2, 6-3 victory over Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci, but the world No 2 will need to take only two sets to win a match when he returns to the All England Club for the London Games next month.
While that would seem to make it even easier for the Spaniard to dominate at the venue where he has reached the Wimbledon final on his last five appearances, Nadal - who won gold in the men's singles in Beijing four years ago - actually fears it will turn the Olympic event into a lottery.
On the day the 64 competitors for the men's Olympic tournament were announced, Nadal claimed the combination of playing three-set matches on Wimbledon's fast grass courts was a bad idea.
Only the men's singles final will be played over five sets and Nadal said: "It's great to have the Olympics here in Wimbledon, but playing best of three sets on grass in a very important competition makes the tournament more difficult for everybody because there are no favourites then.
"That's makes the tournament a little bit more crazy. Everybody can win even more than on hard or clay, because playing best of three sets, the match can be decided in just a few points.
"So that's probably the negative thing. In every match, you are at the limit.
"I don't say it's a 'crazy idea'. But it is a little bit more difficult to predict what's going to happen."
Nadal wasn't the only former Wimbledon champion grumbling about the Olympics on Tuesday as Australia's Lleyton Hewitt also launched an attack on the tournament organisers for failing to give him a doubles wildcard.
Hewitt, who won Wimbledon in 2002, has been handed a wildcard for the singles, but the 31-year-old and partner Chris Guccione weren't given the same courtesy for the doubles.
"Yeah, I am disappointed. I can't work that out for the life of me. I guess playing as much Davis Cup as you do doesn't count for everything," said Hewitt after his 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 defeat against France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round at Wimbledon.
Results on the second day of Wimbledon at the All England Club on Tuesday (x denotes seeding):
Men
First round
Nicolas Almagro (ESP x12) bt Olivier Rochus (BEL) 6-7 (4/7), 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, 6-4
Nicolas Mahut (FRA) bt Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) 6-3, 5-7, 6-7 (3/7), 7-5, 6-2
Kenny De Schepper (FRA) bt Matthias Bachinger (GER) 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
Kei Nishikori (JPN x19) bt Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) 7-5, 6-3, 6-4
Florent Serra (FRA) bt Andrey Kuznetsov (RUS) 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
Go Soeda (JPN) bt Igor Kunitsyn (RUS) 6-3, 6-2, 6-1
Juan Martn Del Potro (ARG x9) bt Robin Haase (NED) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5
Marin Cilic (CRO x16) bt Cedrik-Marcel Stebe (GER) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
Sam Querrey (USA) bt Vasek Pospisil (CAN) 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4
Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) bt Kevin Anderson (RSA x32) 7-5, 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (4/7), 6-3
Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) bt Albert Montas (ESP) 6-2, 6-4, 6-4
Andy Murray (GBR x4) bt Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) 6-1, 6-1, 6-4
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA x5) bt Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
Guillermo Garca-Lpez (ESP) bt Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 5-7, 10-8
Lukas Lacko (SVK) bt Adrian Ungur (ROM) 7-6 (7/4), 6-1, 6-3
David Goffin (BEL) bt Bernard Tomic (AUS x20) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
Jesse Levine (USA) bt Karol Beck (SVK) 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-2
James Ward (GBR) bt Pablo Andjar (ESP) 4-6, 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
Mardy Fish (USA x10) bt Rubn Ramrez Hidalgo (ESP) 7-6 (7/3), 7-5, 7-6 (7/1)
Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) bt Feliciano Lopez (ESP x14) 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4
Brian Baker (USA) bt Rui Machado (POR) 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-0
Benot Paire (FRA) bt Matthew Ebden (AUS) 6-1, 6-3, 6-7 (1/7), 6-3
Alexander Dolgopolov (UKR x22) bt Alex Bogomolov (RUS) 6-3, 6-4, 7-5
Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER x27) bt Tommy Haas (GER) 3-6, 7-6 (10/8), 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/1), 6-2
Malek Jaziri (TUN) bt Jurgen Zopp (EST) 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 9-7
Lukas Rosol (CZE) bt Ivan Dodig (CRO) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7/0), 7-5
Rafael Nadal (ESP x2) bt Thomaz Belluci (BRA) 7-6 (7/0), 6-2, 6-3
Women
First round
Vera Zvonareva (RUS x12) bt Mona Barthel (GER) 2-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4
Christina McHale (USA x28) bt Johanna Konta (GBR) 6-7 (4/7), 6-2, 10-8
Serena Williams (USA x6) bt Barbora Zhlavov Strcov (CZE) 6-2, 6-4
Melinda Czink (HUN) bt Johanna Larsson (SWE) 6-0, 6-2
Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) bt Vera Dushevina (RUS) 6-2, 7-5
Zheng Jie (CHN x25) bt Stphanie Dubois (CAN) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
Kiki Bertens (NED) bt Lucie Safarova (CZE x19) 6-3, 6-0
Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) bt Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5)
Anne Keothavong (GBR) bt Laura Pous (ESP) 6-3, 6-3
Kristyna Plskova (CZE) bt Polona Hercog (SLO) 6-2, 6-2
Francesca Schiavone (ITA x24) bt Laura Robson (GBR) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS x31) bt Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) 6-1, 6-2
Varvara Lepchenko (USA) bt Patricia Mayr (AUT) 6-2, 6-3
Elena Baltacha (GBR) bt Karin Knapp (ITA) 4-6, 6-4, 6-0
Petra Kvitova (CZE x4) bt Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) 6-4, 6-4
Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ) bt Greta Arn (HUN) 6-4, 6-2
Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) bt Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x32) 6-2, 6-3
Roberta Vinci (ITA x21) bt Ashleigh Barty (AUS) 6-2, 6-4
Marina Erakovic (NZL) bt Urszula Radwanska (POL) 6-4, 6-4
Mirjana Lucic (CRO) bt Alexandra Panova (RUS) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
Marion Bartoli (FRA x9) bt Casey Dellacqua (AUS) 6-2, 6-4
Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP x26) bt Simona Halep (ROM) 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
Jana Cepelov (SVK) bt Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
Romina Oprandi (SWI) bt Irina Begu (ROM) 7-6 (7/3), 6-4
Victoria Azarenka (BLR x2) bt Irina Falconi (USA) 6-1, 6-4
