DAY 2
Goodbye, seeds. Almost all of you. Women's second seed Coco Gauff? Gone. She’s never had the best results on grass, and Dayana Yastremska is no slouch. A surprise nonetheless. Yastremska pushed the pace, jumped on Coco's serves, and Coco hit double faults. And a straight set win it was.
A note on the seeds: 13 men’s seeds and 10 women’s seeds are out in the first round, a Grand Slam record on the men’s side. Third seed Alexander Zverev? Out. Lost in five to Arthur Rinderknech of France. Lorenzo Musetti (the seventh seed), lost to Basilashvili. Bublik, with such high hopes coming into Wimbledon, served for the match but crashed out to Munar. Humbert lost in five to Gaël Monfils, who at 38 is a lightning rod for the masses. Zheng Qinwen, fifth seed, out to Siniaková.
Two-time champ Petra Kvitová said goodbye today. She announced her final press conference herself after she lost to Emma Navarro.
“I will miss Wimbledon, I will miss tennis, I will miss you fans–butI am ready for the next chapter.”Say farewell, seeds. Who will be Wimbledon champion this year?
Is there another Czech woman lurking? Maybe one who has won this tournament before?
Day 1
It was hot, and the heat took names as spectators collapsed and stars fell in the first round. Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz went the five-set distance with Fabio Fognini. One spectator fell ill in the crowd. Alcaraz noticed, of course, and gave a water bottle to help. Alcaraz took the fifth set handily.
Elena-Gabriela Ruse fell ill, too. Everyone is ill! She fell in a tight match to Madison Keys. Can we get more ice towels for the players and the fans? The big jumbotrons at the tournament were all encouraging spectators to speak up if they feel ill. And many of these pink-in-the-face Brits were fall down for the count.
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka won in straight sets. Jasmine Paolini snuck through in three.And 2023 champion and serious contender, if she can survive her first three rounds, Markéta Vondroušová, hit some of the cleanest groundstrokes you’ll find this Championships.
Holger Rune, the eight seed, lost a two-set lead to Nicolás Jarry of Chile. House of Rune will persevere. Matteo Berrettini went out. Stefanos Tsitsipas retired with a back issue.Match of the day was Taylor Fritz coming back from two sets down against Frenchman Mpetshi-Perricard. But play was suspended for the beloved curfew.No one was happy about this.But these are the rules in SW19. Also around curfew time... Paula Badosa fell to Brit Katie Boulter and the union jacks came outof thin air to support. At least for this week.
