3 young tennis stars who were upset in the 1st week of Wimbledon 2022
The first week of Wimbledon 2022 has not panned out as tennis experts would have predicted before the start of the tournament. One of the major disappointments in the first week was that last year’s finalist Matteo Berretteni and 2017 finalist Marin Cilic pulled out due to Covid-19 at the last moment. Co-incidentally, both were in the same half as Nadal and were major threats for the Spaniard.
With this year’s mens draw relatively weak due to a ban on Russian players and the withdrawal of top players like Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem, it was a great opportunity for youngsters to make their mark at this year’s Championship. Here’s a look at three tennis stars who were expected to make it to the second week but fell early at the All England Club:
3) Dennis Shapovalov
After making it to the semifinals of Wimbledon last year (lost to Novak Djokovic in three tight sets), greater things were expected of the talented Canadian left-hander at Wimbledon 2022.
Seeded 13 at this year’s Championships, the 23-year-old needed more than 3 hours to go past World No. 62 Arthur Rinderknech in the first round. He looked far off from his best as he struggled with his first serve(52%) consistently. He also made 12 double faults in the match.
In the second round, Shapovalov looked jaded from the five-setter and was dumped out by the rock-solid Brandon Nakashima in four sets. The Canadian will hope to recover quickly from the current low, where he has lost seven out of his eight singles matches and prepare for the hardcourt season.
2) Casper Ruud
French Open finalist Casper Ruud was seeded No 3 in this year’s championship. While he did not have the ideal preparation for the grasscourt season after losing in the first round at Queen’s, he started his Wimbledon campaign on a good note. He dispatched veteran Albert Ramos Vinolas in three sets and was the only top-5 player to win the first round in straight-sets.
The Norwegian tennis star was knocked out of the All England Club by Frenchman Ugo Humbert in four sets. Grass being his least favored surface, he struggled on both the wings as his shots lacked the firepower to unsettle Humbert, whose flat and powerful serve and groundstrokes suit the surface.
Ugo powers through Ruud ⚡️
@HumbertUgo defeats No.3 seed Casper Ruud in four sets, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4
#Wimbledon https://t.co/C2O3evTBbx
1) Felix Auger-Aliassime
The 21-year-old reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon 2021 and was one of the youngsters to watch out for. Coached by Rafa Nadal’s uncle Toni Nadal, Felix has improved his overall game and was hoping to make a deep run in this year’s Wimbledon.
Unfortunately, in one of the biggest upsets of the first round, the sixth-seeded Canadian fell to Maxime Cressy. Cressy plays the old-school serve-and-volley extremely effectively, with the big-serving American coming to the net an astonishing 134 times and managing to win 95 points at the net (71%).
Felix: I need to face the reality. The reality is I lost today and there is nothing I can do anymore, even though of course I had higher ambitions. But in order to 1 day win a tournament like this I need to be able to beat players like today & many different players along the way
Although Auger-Aliassime had more winners than Cressy, he had no answer to the American’s serve and volley approach and lost in four close sets.