Rafael Nadal of Spain reacts during his match against Dustin Brown of Germany at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, July 2, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

Defeat continued Nadal's wretched run at Wimbledon since he lost the 2011 final to Novak Djokovic.

In successive years he has lost to players ranked 100, 135, 144 and now 102 without getting past the fourth round -- a stunning decline for the 14-times grand slam winner who triumphed at Wimbledon in 2008 and 2010 and has been runner-up three times.

"My motivation is to be back to that level but I don't know if I can," 10th seed Nadal said.

"But I've played on the last day here five days and had the trophy back home twice, so it's not bad."