Wimbledon - June 28 - The Day Of Surprises

We've got a new tournament, a long awaited one that is going to give us a lot of excitement, good and bad as that's how it is in sport.

The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly known simply as Wimbledon or The Championships, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is played on outdoor grass courts, since 2009 with a retractable roof over Centre Court, and since 2019 over No. 1 Court. source

Last year the event was cancelled due to the pandemic, which means this edition is twice as important as before. Skipping one year is not the end of the world but for some players this may be the last chance as they are at the end of their career.

Grass for me is now, I haven't seen a lot of matches on grass, therefore it's interesting. This strange surface may be uncomfortable for some players as unlike clay and hard surfaces, grass can't be renewed. It's been only a few days and the court is already showing sign of fraying. Till the end of the tournament is going to get worse and worse, becoming a challenge for the players.

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The First Major Surprise

I have chosen my words carefully but in fact I should have said slap on the face. Tsitsipas, third seed eliminated by a low ranking player, what a shock!

“For sure lack of matches was crucial today. The transition from clay to grass, in my opinion, is probably the most difficult one, if not the biggest challenge in our sport. I just wasn't able to adapt,” Tsitsipas said. “I obviously didn't want it to be like this, to get to the point where I'm completely out of control. source

This is what the Greek said, this is the reason he could not be himself, or the player we're used to see on other surfaces. He's still young and has time to learn, but now he knows he has a weakness on grass that must be transformed in strength as soon as possible. The loss is even more important, or painful, as Nadal is not present, so Tsitsipas would have had a huge chance to get to the final. This painful loss shows he's not ready yet.

Lloyd Harris vs Ričardas Berankis

There are a few new players I'm keeping an eye on, following their career, one of them is the South African Lloyd Harris. He has a lot of potential and also working hard to get to the top. As any other player, he's been struggling with injuries, but he's back. Unfortunately the match was suspended, but I hope he can still win as he won the first two sets. He needs to qualify to the next round as I hope to see him playing. At this stage of the tournament it's quite difficult to see all the matches unless I have Eurosport Player, which I don't as subscription is needed. But then again, who has time to watch tennis all day long? I don't.

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Andy Murray vs Nikoloz Basilashvili

There are a lot of eyes on Andy Murray right now. Once No. 1, the Scottish has been struggling with injuries, had several surgeries over the past years and has missed most of the season this year. He's Djokovic's age, so he could still play a few years, but those injuries may have cancelled his chance to play at top levels.

Yesterday however he was brilliant as Basilashvili is a good player who had good results lately. It's just a small step towards the next level, but one step at a time and every victory counts. Let's see how much effort this mach took out of Murray.

Novak Djokovic vs Jack Draper

Surprisingly Djokovic needed four sets to win against Draper. It's possible that grass is not his strong suit or just as usual, he needed some time to get used to the opponent's playing style and get into the rhythm.

Denis Kudla vs Alejandro Davidovich Fokina

This is the other shocking news, although with less impact on the tournament as Alejandro Davidovich Fokina was only 30th seed, but even so, he's a promising young player, with a lot of talent, who did well lately. Maybe grass is not his favorite surface or he's just not used to it. I'm not happy to see him eliminated, but this is the game.

Márton Fucsovics vs Jannik Sinner

Another shocking result, a bitter sweet result. I believe Jannik Sinner needs no presentation for those who are following tennis. Márton Fucsovics however is a totally different matter. he's one of the players who is usually leaving every tournament in the first or the second round. Him to beat a player like Sinner? This is huge for the Hungarian. Again, maybe Sinner was not ready for grass as he can beat Fucsovics any day.

On the plus side I was happy to see Roberto Bautista Agut, the Italian Andreas Seppi, The South African Kevin Anderson, the Russian Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov, Diego Schwartzman and Fabio Fognini qualify for the next round.

Today there has already been a few matches played and there are surprises as well. More about that tomorrow, so stay tuned.