The tops
They were 4 in the first round, they will be four in the second. After Caroline Garcia and Diane Parry on Monday, Varvara Gracheva and Alizé Cornet validated their ticket for the second round on Wednesday. The only beaten tricolors of the day, Arthur Rinderknech and Benjamin Bonzi, gave in to… compatriots. Alexandre Müller got the better of Rinderknech 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, while Harold Mayot, who went through qualifying, won against Bonzi (6-3 , 6-4, 7-5). Grégoire Barrère did the job to dominate South African Lloyd Harris 7-5, 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 6-3. And Adrian Mannarino confirmed his status as a very good grass player by outclassing the Russian Alexander Shevchenko, 97th player in the world (6-3, 6-3, 6-2). What follows is more complicated. If Mayot will be slightly favored in the predictions against Argentinian Guido Pella, Müller and Gracheva will respectively challenge the world number one, Carlos Alcaraz, and the number 2 woman, Aryna Sabalenka. Alizé Cornet will challenge defending champion Elena Rybakina. And Mannarino will rub shoulders with Daniil Medvedev. Strong, very strong. But so far so good.
It was one of the main posters of the first round and it kept all its promises. The winner of the US Open 2020, Dominic Thiem, allergic to grass and hard in recent months, has nevertheless evolved at a good level and pushed Stefanos Tsitsipas to the super decisive tie-break of the fifth set (3-6, 7 -6, 6-2, 6-7, 7-6), where he gave up 10 points to 8 after a hell of a showdown of 3:55. Undoubtedly the match of a beginning of tournament for the moment not very enthusiastic. The two men put on a show, like a sublime extension volley from Tsitsipas. And yet, they did not approach the tournament very confident. Unlike the 2019 and 2021 editions, Tsitsipas did not stumble on the first step at the All England Club and won in two days due to rain. Next fight expected against Andy Murray in the 2nd round.
Facing Jordan Thompson this Wednesday the master of the place did not have the match of his life. If he did not fly over the debates, Novak Djokovic never trembled, not conceding the slightest break point and once again mastering a tie-break for a success in three sets (6-3, 7- 6(4), 7-5). The Serb especially took care of his crazy stats, winning his 350th Grand Slam victory. Only legends Roger Federer and Serena Williams had reached this milestone before. The seven-time winner has won his 30th straight victory at Wimbledon since his defeat in the quarterfinals in 2017.
The flops
It is an image that the organizers would have done without. The match between the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and the Japanese Sho Shimabukuro was briefly interrupted in the afternoon by the irruption on court number 18 of two activists from the environmental organization “Just stop oil”. A man and a woman threw orange glitter confetti and puzzle pieces. A third activist, also throwing orange confetti, interrupted the match between Britain’s Katie Boulter and Australia’s Daria Saville. Successful buzz for activists and big bug for Wimbledon. The organizers had claimed before the start of the tournament that security had been tightened to prevent such actions. Failed and well failed…
It rains sometimes in Wimbledon, it’s not a scoop. And this year the capricious weather is giving the organizers a hard time. Incessant rain fell on the capital of England on Tuesday and this Wednesday at the start of the day. And that, the organizers can not do anything about it. No less than 87 matches were scheduled for Wednesday on the courts of Wimbledon. It was therefore necessary to act quickly to make up for (a little) the lost time. We can be surprised at the management of the roof of court 1. While the showers multiplied in the morning, between two clearings, the organizers wanted to do everything to ensure that the game took place outdoors. In the end, the match between Daniil Medvedev and Arthur Ferry started half an hour late to be stopped again almost three quarters of an hour later because of… rain. Makes you wonder what the roof is for!
Former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova, finalist in 2021, has been only a shadow of herself for a few months. She almost “logically” suffered the law of the 225th player in the world, the Serbian Natalija Stefanovic (6-2, 6-3), 28 years old and from qualifying. Already beaten on entry to Roland-Garros, Maria Sakkari still stumbled in the first round, beaten by the Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (0/6, 7/5, 6/2). The Greek had however won the first seven games of the game but she lost the thread, victim of her current lack of confidence.
