Women’s Withdrawals:
The women’s draw was decimated before balls were even hit, with three seeds in the bottom section pulling out due to injury or illness. Ekatarina Alexandrova, Victoria Azarenka, and Aryna Sabalenka, all deciding that skipping the event was better for their health. Three lucky losers were able to take their place, with one, Erika Andreeva (Sabalenka’s replacement) gaining a first round win over Emina Bektas. The bottom section has certainly opened right up.
Seeds Cruise:
No problem for any of the top seeds on either the men’s or women’s side, as they move through to the second round. The highest seed to go down in the women’s draw was Qinwen Zheng (8th seed), although that wasn’t a huge surprise, despite losing to world number 123, Lulu Sun, given the form she’s been in since Melbourne. The bigger surprise was Mirra Andreeva, the 17-year-old 24th seed, going down to another 17-year-old, Brenda Fruhvirtova. Both of them are amazing talents, but with Mirra making the 4th round last year, she would’ve been expected to get through that match.
For the men, Sebastian Baez (18) and Nicolas Jarry (19) were the highest seeds to go under on day one. Neither were expected to push too deep into the tournament, and defeats at the hands of Brandon Nakashima and Denis Shapovalov, weren’t a big surprise.
Mixed Day for the Locals:
The British had a mixed bag of results on the opening day. For the men, Charles Broom and Liam Broady, both Wildcards, went down in their respective matches. For the women, it was a more successful start to their campaign, with Emma Raducanu, Yuriko Lily Miyazaki, and Sonay Kartel, all making it through to the second round. Miyazaki and Kartel both knocking off higher ranked opponents in Korpatsch and Cirstea respectively. The only blemish for the women, was Heather Watson packing her bags early again.
Marathon Matches:
Day one saw 8 men’s matches go to five sets, with three of those going all the way through to the match tie-break. The longest match of the day went to Zizou Bergs of Belgium and Arthur Cazaux of France, who battled away for 4 hours and 34 minutes, before the Frenchman got the better of his opponent, taking the match tie break 10-8.
Tiafoe Gets the Win, Then Insults Previous Opponents:
Frances Tiafoe had a much-needed confidence-boosting win over Italian, Matteo Arnaldi. After coming back from two sets down for the first time in his career, the American was obviously excited and relieved. But what he said in the press conference raised a few eyebrows…
“Literally this week last year I was 10 in the world and now I’m barely seeded here (at Wimbledon). Losing to clowns, I hate to say it but I’m just gonna be honest.” Fair to say that might ruffle a few feathers in the locker room.
Grass Season is Still Too Short:
There’s something about grass court tennis. The aesthetics, the different styles of play, the faster pace, the general vibe, or maybe it’s just that tennis on the lawn seems such a novelty because it is such a small window in the calendar. Whatever the reason, we should do whatever we can to have more grass events. The fact that 15 men in the draw this year, actually decided not to play a grass court match before Wimbledon is astounding – perhaps it shouldn’t be though, as players probably don’t want to waste their time adjusting surfaces for literally just a few weeks. Maybe if there were a couple more larger grass events to compliment the Major, we’d see players take it more seriously.
Bring on Day 2!
Follow The Tennis Site on ‘X’ and Facebook: @thetennissite
Follow Todd Scoullar on ‘X’ @toddscoullar
