Nicolas Mahut suffered a painful defeat in the Wimbledon men’s doubles final after he was hit just above the eye by a smash.

The 37-year-old took the nasty blow in the first set as he and fellow Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin were beaten by Colombian duo Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

Standing at the net, Farah crashed a 120mph overhead into the grass which reared up and knocked Mahut clean off his feet on the baseline.

His concerned partner and their opponents rushed to check if he was OK while a doctor and trainer also came onto court.

The ball had struck him millimetres above his left eye and he needed a lengthy medical time-out, with a doctor running vision and concussion checks before he was able to resume.

Mahut held an icepack to his eye at change-overs but recovered to help take the first set on a tie-break.

However, the Colombians took the next two sets, both also after tie-breaks, with Mahut swearing furiously at the end of the third after a point was not replayed following an overrule.

Then, in the deciding set, Mahut took one ball to the neck and another in the groin as Cabal and Farah clinched the decisive break.

The second seeds went on to win the title 6-7 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 after a gruelling, and for Mahut, bruising five-hour battle.

Mahut is known for his iron-man feats at SW19 – a blue plaque on Court 18 commemorates his record-breaking clash with John Isner in 2010, which the American won 70-68 in the fifth set.