3 Wimbledon defending champions to lose in the first round ft. Marketa Vondrousova
Wimbledon is widely regarded as the most prestigious Major out of the four. Winning a title on the lush green lawns of the All England Club is a dream many players wish to fulfill at all cost.
Those who do manage to taste glory here are obviously hungry for more, and seek to repeat the feat the following year as well. However, defending a title at any tournament is no easy task, and doing so at a Major is even more difficult.
Winning seven straight matches requires a lot of focus and skill, and the ability to withstand pressure. All eyes are on the defending champion during any Major, and not everyone is able to remain calm under so much scrutiny.
As a result, some players' title defence often comes to an early end. Only a few have faltered at the very first hurdle, so here's a look at the three players who lost in the first round of Wimbledon as the defending champion:
#1 - Steffi Graf (1994)
Graf was the first player in the Open Era to lose in the first round of Wimbledon as the defending champion back in 1994. As the three-time defending champion at the venue, she was the heavy favorite to lay her hands on the Venus Rosewater Dish once again.
Graf drew Lori McNeil in the first round and lost a closely fought match as she went down 7-5, 7-6 (5). The latter had previously defeated the former in the first round of the 1992 WTA Tour Championships as well, which marked the German's first opening round exit since 1985.
Graf was the first player to lose in the first round as a defending champion not only at Wimbledon, but also across all Grand Slams. Her early exit from that year's edition of the grass court Major also snapped her streak of 31 consecutive quarterfinal appearances at the Majors, which started at the 1985 US Open.
The German bounced back in her trademark style as she triumphed at Wimbledon the next two years. She ended her career with seven titles at the All England Club, and finished as the runner-up on another two occasions.
#2 - Lleyton Hewitt (2003)
Nearly a decade after Graf made headlines for losing in the first round of Wimbledon as the defending champion, Hewitt suffered the same fate. He captured his second Major title at the All England Club in 2002 with a dominant win over David Nalbaṇdian in the final.
After concluding the season ranked No. 1 for the second straight year in 2002, Hewitt failed to match those highs the following year. His results at the Majors were quite average as he made the fourth round of the Australian Open, and bowed out from the French Open a round earlier.
While Hewitt wasn't expected to mount a successful title defence at the 2003 Wimbledon, no one predicted him to crash out in the first round itself. The Australian faced the big-serving Ivo Karlovic in his opener, and claimed the first set with ease.
However, Karlovic soon turned the match on its head and managed to score a massive 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-4 upset win over Hewitt. It marked the second time the Wimbledon defending champion was eliminated in the first round, and the first instance of this happening in the men's draw.
Hewitt did have some good results at the venue in the following years. He made the semifinals in 2005, and the quarterfinals on three other occasions. However, he never won another Major title.
#3 - Marketa Vondrousova (2024)
Vondrousova became the latest Wimbledon defending champion to be knocked out in the first round. She won her maiden Major title here last year with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Ons Jabeur in the final.
The Czech's build up to her title defence at the All England Club wasn't off to a smooth start this year. She sustained an injury during her quarterfinal match against Anna Kalinskaya at the ecotrans Ladies Open in Berlin, which forced her to retire.
There were some doubts regarding Vondrousova's participation in the season's third Major but she arrived in London to defend her title, and was drawn against Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the first round.
The Spaniard pushed Vondrousova right from the start and while the latter managed to fight back in the first set, it still slipped out of her grasp. Bouzas Maneiro outplayed her opponent in the second set to secure a 6-4, 6-2 win, her very first victory at a Major as well.
With the defeat, Vondrousova became the third player in the history of the tournament to lose in the first round as a defending champion. It only goes to show how difficult it is to win back-to-back titles on the biggest stage of tennis.