Wimbledon recap Day 1: Stars slip all over the grass as Jannik Sinner survives scare

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Welcome to the Wimbledon briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.

On Day 1, there were slips and falls aplenty, a defending champion survived an upset, and Britain had a very rough day.

How did the fresh grass affect play?

Slipping on grass is always an occupational hazard for a tennis player, but especially at the start of a tournament when the courts are at their freshest and slickest.

Sure enough, Day 1 of Wimbledon was defined to some extent by the slips — and those players who got away with them, and those who didn’t.

Jannik Sinner, the world No. 1 and defending champion, was one of the lucky ones. He took a couple of falls, the second of which in the third set looked particularly awkward. Sinner was quickly back to his feet, though, and ultimately beat Miomir Kecmanović in five sets.

Maja Chwalińska, this year’s French Open finalist, wasn’t so fortunate. The 24-year-old from Poland was up match point against Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew, leading 6-2, 5-2, when her legs buckled from underneath her, and she fell to the ground. Chwalińska took a medical timeout for an ankle injury at the end of the game and was clearly hampered by it for the rest of the match. She ended up losing 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 and said in a news conference afterward that she had also “got cramps everywhere.”

Argentina’s Camilo Ugo Carabelli couldn’t even make it to the end of his match after a fall that also left him with an injured ankle. He had led by two sets to love but was forced to retire leading Spain’s Daniel Mérida 6-4, 6-3 2-6, 0-3. Canada’s Denis Shapovalov also hurt his shoulder hitting a low ball before slipping into the netting by the side of the court and was forced to retire against Pablo Carreño Busta.

Novak Djokovic took a couple of falls in the early stages of his match against Yibing Wu but didn’t suffer an injury.

It’s a situation that should improve over the next few days as the areas around the baseline become rougher and more worn, but being able to avoid injury when falling is a key grass-court skill.

— Charlie Eccleshare

How did Sinner survive a five-set scare?

For a little while Monday, Sinner looked as though he was about to create a piece of very unwanted history. Down two sets to one against an inspired Miomir Kecmanović of Serbia, he was one set from becoming the first defending Wimbledon men’s singles champion to lose in the first round since Lleyton Hewitt to Ivo Karlović in 2003.

The 24-year-old Italian was mixing woeful drop shots with regulation misses (Sinner made 54 unforced errors in the first three sets) against Kecmanović, who was serving brilliantly and skidding the ball through the court.

When Sinner held a set point in the third set, Kecmanović produced extraordinary athleticism to fend him off at the net. As the players crossed one another at the change of ends, Sinner held out his hand to Kecmanović in respect for his opponent’s heroics:

A couple of points later, Sinner was a set away from what would have been his second shocking loss in a row, after a heat-induced collapse against Juan Manuel Cerúndolo at the French Open last month when Sinner wilted from two sets and 5-1 up.

Sinner didn’t panic though, and seemed to remember why he has been the dominant world No. 1 this year:

From 2-2 in the fourth set, he moved a bit further back to return, and in giving himself a bit more time started to cut out the uncharacteristically sloppy returns. He won four straight games, to take the match into a decider and then rolled through it 6-3. It proved to be a blessedly straightforward fifth set, having lost his previous five, and eight of his past nine.

Sinner said in a news conference afterwards that after the first set he “tried to reset myself as fast as I could.” He also played down the seriousness of a toenail that ripped off and bloodied his shoe a deep red, and those couple of slips around the baseline.

“I try to stay there mentally,” Sinner said. “Trying also to enjoy the moment because it has been an amazing day for me and my team as well. Coming here, opening match on Centre Court, it’s a huge privilege.”

As well as being a privilege, the tradition of opening play on Centre Court for the defending men’s champion undoubtedly adds a degree of pressure. “It was very nervy, but very happy that I found a way today,” Sinner said.

Carlos Alcaraz experienced similar emotions in last year’s first round and also needed five sets — eventually getting past the 38-year-old Fabio Fognini. He still made the final without too much trouble.

Sinner will hope Monday’s win was similarly more a reflection of nerves and acclimatizing to the Wimbledon grass rather than an indicator of more trouble ahead.

— Charlie Eccleshare

And what happened to British hopes?

The first Monday of Wimbledon was a rough one for Britain’s tennis stars. With Emma Raducanu having withdrawn Sunday with a stress fracture to her right leg, Jack Draper followed her out of the tournament, pulling out with a recurrence of his left arm injury.

Still, with 10 British players on court on Day 1, there was plenty of opportunity for other names to make an impression. Cameron Norrie, the 2022 semifinalist and so often the last player standing at the All England Club lately, couldn’t do it, falling 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(10-4) to qualifier Michael Zheng of the U.S., who had completed the feat of qualifying for all four majors in the space of one year at college.

What about Harriet Dart, moved up to No. 1 Court after Raducanu’s withdrawal? She fell, too, despite a spirited performance against Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, losing 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

And the losses just kept coming. Qualifier Ollie Tarvet, who thrilled Centre Court last year in a defeat to Alcaraz, injured himself against France’s No. 25 seed Arthur Rinderknech and lost in four sets. U.S. Open girls’ singles champion Mika Stojsavljevic started quickly against No. 11 seed Belinda Bencic but lost in straight sets. That was just how the day went.

When it was over, 10 of the 11 British players who walked on to a grass court had lost. Jack Pinnington Jones, the lone survivor, was down two sets to Brandon Nakashima of the U.S. when their match was halted for light. On a bright summer’s day in southwest London, it was the worst opening day at Wimbledon for British players since records began 26 years ago.

— James Hansen

Other notable results on Day 1

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka (1) eased past Serbia’s Teodora Kostović (Q) 6-2, 6-3.

Novak Djokovic (7) used all his reserves of self-motivation to beat Wu Yibing 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 before the 11 p.m. curfew fell on Centre Court.

Naomi Osaka (14) continued her rich vein of grass-court form, defeating France’s Elsa Jacquemot 6-1, 7-5.

Andrey Rublev (12) fell in a gripping fifth-set tiebreak to Russian compatriot Roman Safiullin (Q), 6-4, 6-7(6), 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(14-12).

Shot of the day

Kecmanović, down set point to Sinner, produced one of the finishing shots of his life to hold on against the world No. 1:

Drop shots

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Up next: First round continues

🎾 Women’s singles: Taylor Townsend vs. Iga Świątek (3)

8:30 a.m. ET on ESPN, ESPN Unlimited

Świątek is so much more comfortable on hard and clay courts than she is grass that she described winning last year’s Wimbledon title as beyond her imagination. This year, Świątek will attempt to become the first woman to defend her Wimbledon title since Serena Williams did it in 2016. Playing Townsend won’t present the easiest start. The three-time Grand Slam doubles champion has a varied game with a killer serve, and she won’t be intimidated by Świątek.

🎾 Men’s singles: Raphaël Collignon vs. Arthur Fils (20)

10 a.m. ET (est.) on ESPN Unlimited

Fils’ comeback match — or re-comeback match. The promising 22-year-old Frenchman had to pull out of the French Open last month because of an injury he has deliberately kept vague, just a few weeks after he returned to the tour after an eight-month layoff to heal a stress fracture in his back. Fils played impressively well during that time considering how long he’d been away, but Belgium’s Collignon doesn’t scare easily. He took out Ben Shelton in the second round of the French Open.

🎾 Women’s singles: Serena Williams (WC) vs. Maya Joint

2:30 p.m. ET (est.) on ESPN, ESPN Unlimited

As Williams said of her 20-year-old, first-round opponent in her pretournament news conference: “I’m sure she knows my game.” Williams is correct, and Joint will be battling some version of that fearsome game and the formidable aura that accompanies the 44-year-old, 23-time Grand Slam champion whenever she steps on the court. Joint is no schlub on grass — she won a 250-level WTA title on grass in Eastbourne, England, last year — but Tuesday is as much a mental challenge as anything.

🎾 Men’s singles: Stan Wawrinka (WC) vs. Matteo Berrettini

2:30 p.m. ET (est.) on ESPN Unlimited

A match that is sure to be emotional on both sides. Berrettini lost a Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic in 2021, back when he was the cream of the crop of tennis players pouring out of Italy, but his career has been derailed by injury for the past few years, and at the French Open, he again had to retire from his quarterfinal match because of a hip injury. On the other side, three-time Grand Slam champion Wawrinka is playing his final Wimbledon before retirement.

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