After the excitement of the opening day of Wimbledon, play returned to the court as the second half of the first round of the singles draws were concluded.
The men’s draw gave Wimbledon crowds their first glimpse at world number two Rafael Nadal after his controversial comments that the seeding system used by Wimbledon was “disrespectful”. He stepped onto the newly roofed No.1 Court for a match against Japan’s Yuichi Sugita.
The women’s draw, on the other hand, saw world number one Ashleigh Barty take to the court for a match against China’s Zheng SaiSai as she looked to follow an impressive first Grand Slam title at the French Open win with silverware in London.
But after a number of surprises on the opening day, including the shock win of Cori Gauff, who impressed at the All England Club and who was not up for the task? We’ve taken a look…
Loser: Maria Sharapova
After the historic Gauff win it was going to take something special for the women’s draw to capture the headlines like it did 24 hours previously and despite the upsets being few and far between for the women today it was not a good day for previous Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova. After taking the first set 6-4, Sharapova lost a second set tiebreak before retiring while on the verge of defeat in the final set due to an injury to the forearm. While losing in the first round may have not been ideal for the Russian it is the injury which is the biggest concern considering she only returned from a shoulder injury last month.
Winner: Rafael Nadal
Nadal was clearly upset in the build-up to Wimbledon that despite being world number two he was seeded third in the tournament below world number three Roger Federer. However, if this controversy had any effect on Nadal’s mentality he certainly didn’t show it as he started his tournament with a solid win over Yuichi Sugita. Nadal barely broke a sweat as he strolled into the next round with a 6-3, 6-1. 6-3 victory to set up a second-round match against Nick Kyrgios.
Loser: Dominic Thiem
After an impressive run at Roland Garros which concluded in a close fought semi-final against eventual champion Nadal, Thiem was expected to go deep into the competition at Wimbledon as one of the favourites outside of the traditional “Big Three”. However, Thiem’s tournament has been cut short by the experienced head of American Sam Querrey. After triumphing in a first set tiebreaker Thiem slumped to a disappointing 3-1 loss including being bageled 6-0 in the final set.
Winner: Kei Nishikori
After the elimination of his fellow countrymen Nishioka and Osaka yesterday the best chance for Japanese success at Wimbledon fell onto the shoulders of Japanese number one Kei Nishikori. Despite questions about his ability to perform on grass Nishikori looked confident as he strolled to a straight-set win over Thiago Monteiro to set up a match against Cameron Norrie in the next round.
Loser: James Ward
As a wildcard going up against a top 20 player in Nikoloz Basilashvili it feels slightly unfair to place James Ward into the losers column but after capitalising on an underperforming Basilashvili to gain a two-set lead Ward threw away an incredible chance to secure a big-name scalp in front of his home crowd by losing the next three sets as he fell to a disappointing 3-2 loss.