Wimbledon Week 1 Recap: Swiatek, Gauff ousted, Murray's emotional goodbye, Alcaraz fights it out

The top five seeds are still in the draw in men’s singles at Wimbledon while the women’s section has been blown wide open amid continued disappointments for Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff at the grass court major. As far as defending champions go, Carlos Alcaraz has fought it to reach the quarter-finals. Marketa Vondrousova, though, became a first-round casualty.

Withdrawals open things up

Andy Murray, Aryna Sabalenka and Victoria Azarenka all waited until after the draw came out to withdraw from Wimbledon. Not only did it open things up, especially in the case of Sabalenka, but it also gave lucky losers a spot in playing the prestigious major.

There were questions over protocols for injury withdrawals at the start of the tournament and were brought back after Emma Raducanu pulled out of the mixed with Murray.

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Understandably, players want to give themselves every chance to compete and play despite injuries if possible. If there’s the slightest bit of chance, why pull out early? If players do withdraw, there’s someone to fill the gap so there’s no empty slot. However, what should happen when there are mid-tournament withdrawals is another (long overdue) discussion.

Lucky losers

The withdrawals and injuries meant the men’s draw had five lucky losers and the women’s had four. In all, nine lucky losers entered the draws with only one still alive - France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

Is this a record? Not quite. Wimbledon had nine lucky losers in 2018 (seven men, two women) and 2010 (seven men, two women again). The last time there were more than nine was 1991 when there were 10 (five men, five women).

Swiatek, Gauff exit

Lessons learned 👏🏼 @iga_swiatek

We’ll see you soon, champ 🫶#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/En0WsMbAdJ

— TENNIS (@Tennis) July 6, 2024

Iga Swiatek, the top seed, is out. As is Coco Gauff, the number two seed. Only two of the top-10 seeds remain: 2022 champion Elena Rybakina and Jasmine Paolini. Swiatek was undone by Yulia Putintseva and Gauff by American compatriot Emma Navarro.

It continued a forgettable string of results for the duo who have been consistent on other surfaces. Gauff’s record in the last five years reads fourth round, fourth round, third round, first round and fourth round. Swiatek’s in the same time has been first round, fourth round, third round, quarterfinals and third round. Poor returns for two of the best players on tour.

Swiatek looked flustered against Putintseva, something you don’t see very often. Another year of unbeatable on clay to underwhelming on grass.

In 2022, her 37-match unbeaten run was halted by Alize Cornet at Wimbledon. This time, her 21-match winning streak has been reduced to dust.

Gauff, on Sunday, looked equally hapless. She muttered, looked at her box for desperate help, but coach Brad Gilbert could not find a solution. A fix for Gauff’s error-prone forehand to counter Navarro’s consistent hitting. In the end, a straight sets defeat sent the young American packing.

Ironically, Gauff’s big breakthrough came at the All England Club when she was 15 and beat Venus Williams. She became the youngest qualifier in tournament history enroute a fourth-round showing. She’s not bettered that performance in the years since.

Alcaraz fights, stays alive

Carlos Alcaraz was pushed, cornered and looked to be heading out until he produced a fifth set heroics to down Frances Tiafoe. In the next, Ugo Humbert played sensational tennis to prolong his fourth-round meeting with Alcaraz but the Spaniard had just that little extra oomph to close it out in four sets.

Carlos Alcaraz, you are ridiculous 🤯#Wimbledon | @carlosalcaraz pic.twitter.com/UCuhaZAaw8

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 7, 2024

Sample this. In the second set, Alcaraz was down on his backside on the baseline, briefly taking a seat after doing the splits when he slipped while running to hit a forehand, before getting to his feet, sprinted to his left to get to a backhand, then raced forward to reach a short ball and eventually saw Humbert volley long. That pretty much sums up Alcaraz and what it takes to beat him.

“Unbelievable, I guess. I just try to fight every point, every ball. It doesn’t matter what part of the court,” he said after.

Just ask Tiafoe who got “sick of him” after a three-hour and 50-minute ordeal. “I push the opponent just to be at 100%, physically and mentally, and play at 100%,” Alcaraz said, describing his mindset in five-setters where his record reads 12-1. “Sometimes for the other player, it’s difficult to (stay) at this kind of intensity.”

How close was Alcaraz to losing and Tiafoe to turning around a dreadful season? Two points. At 4-4 in the fourth set, Alcaraz was 0-30. Two more points and the American would have had a huge chance to serve it out. Alas, Alcaraz survived and dominated the ensuing tiebreaker.

As Alcaraz fights on, a semi-final showdown with Jannik Sinner remains on the cards. The Australian Open champion has had less dramatic matches - dropping a set each against Yannick Hanfmann and Italian compatriot Matteo Berrettini.

Jannik Sinner's latest magic trick 🪄🤩#Wimbledon | @janniksin pic.twitter.com/eHGuCTd7RE

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 7, 2024

As far as wizardry with the racket goes, Sinner is equally capable of some improvised hitting. Against Ben Shelton, Sinner brought his racket around his back and flicked a between-the-legs shot that he followed with a passing winner.

“I’m not kind of player to have a lot of trick shots. But in this case, it was still the easiest shot. I didn’t have space to go right and left,” Sinner said, calling it a “lucky shot.”

How fit is Djokovic?

Has Novak Djokovic recovered from his knee injury? Is Novak Djokovic fit enough to play at Wimbledon? Is Novak Djokovic fit enough to play five-setters? These were the big questions going into and during the first week. They haven’t quite died down even as the seven-time Wimbledon champion has progressed to the fourth round.

At the French Open, he tore a meniscus, withdrew and underwent surgery. That was only three weeks before Wimbledon began. In just two weeks, he returned to the practice court and entered Wimbledon. A week later, he is in the fourth round.

Has the right knee miraculously healed? “The more matches I have, the better the chance I’ll have to feel more comfortable moving around and gain that speed, agility, change of direction — that freedom that I’m looking for, really," he said after the second round.

Djokovic, 37, wearing a gray sleeve on his knee, dropped a set against Jacob Fearnley and Alexei Popyrin. But his toughest challenge yet could come in the form of big-serving Holger Rune in the Round of 16.

Andy Murray bows out

Andy Murray tried his best to play but his injury-induced-back surgery didn’t heal in time for an effort in the singles department. He did, however, team up with brother Jamie Murray in the doubles and was due to play the mixed with Emma Raducanu before an injury forced her to withdraw.

Murray, 37, had said he planned to head into retirement after playing at the All England Club and the Paris Olympics.

There were tears, a standing ovation, video tributes from Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Venus Williams and Novak Djokovic. The family, including mother Judy, who taught both Andy and Jamie to play, wife Kim Sears and two of the four children, were in attendance.

The Murrays lost in straight sets against Rinky Hijikata and John Peers. But like Federer’s farewell, the result was hardly the point.

A men’s doubles first-round match was played on Centre Court for the first time in nearly 30 years, a fitting venue for him to begin saying goodbye.

“I’m ready to finish playing,” Murray said, “because I can’t play to the level I want to anymore.”

After an emotional ceremony with hilarious anecdotes, the 2013 and 2016 Wimbledon champion bid adieu.

The unknowns

There have been quite a few of the ‘unknowns’ that have made themselves ‘known’ in the first week. Let’s start with Emma Navarro.

Navarro, 23, has been a pro for only two years and is already up to World No. 14 in the live WTA rankings. This surge has seen her go from 233 in 2021 to 143 in 2022, to 38 in 2023 and on the brink of top-10 now.

In the first week, she upstaged former World No. 1 Naomi Osaka in the first round and Gauff in the fourth.

An NCAA champion, Navarro comes from a wealthy upbringing. Her father, Benjamin Navarro, is a billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist behind Sherman Financial Group, the parent company of Credit One Bank. In addition to his financial ventures, he has made significant strides in the world of tennis with his family office, Beemok Capital, acquiring the Charleston Open in 2018 and the Cincinnati Open in 2022.

Lulu Sun has been another. When she beat Zhu Lin in the third round, Sun — born to a Croatian father and Chinese mother in New Zealand with upbringing in Switzerland — became the first Kiwi woman to reach the fourth round of Wimbledon in the Open Era. She took that up a notch by reaching the quarterfinals by ousting Emma Raducanu.

Sun is the first woman representing New Zealand to go this far at a major since Belinda Cordwell made the 1989 Australian Open semifinals.

The left-handed qualifier hit a jaw-dropping 52 winners against Raducanu to take her tournament tally to 243 - that is one every five points.

‘Astonishing’ hate for Raducanu

Before stepping up to the court in the singles, Raducanu was forced into skipping the mixed with Andy Murray - what would have been the 37-year-old’s final event.

“Unfortunately I woke up with some stiffness in my right wrist this morning, so therefore I have decided to make the very tough decision to withdraw from the mixed doubles tonight,” Raducanu said. “I’m disappointed as I was really looking forward to playing with Andy but got to take care.”

Instead of getting compassion for not being able to achieve her “dream” of playing alongside Murray, Raducanu received vitriol on social media. Judy Murray’s sarcastic post didn’t help matters either, even though she posted a clarification a day later.

Not sure anyone understands sarcasm these days.
Pretty sure the scheduling (4th match court 1 with a singles following day) will have played a major part in any decision making.

— judy murray (@JudyMurray) July 7, 2024

Most players have put their singles chances above the doubles over the years. As did Raducanu here. Not to forget, the 2021 US Open champion underwent wrist surgery last year to even return to the court. For the world to expect Raducanu, or anyone, to put their body at risk for what would have been a glorified exhibition match is unjust.