Injury dropouts raise questions about motives

Sympathy was in short supply for Wimbledon’s walking wounded on Tuesday after backto-back retirements robbed Centre Court fans of what should have been a blockbuster double bill featuring Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

The 15,000-strong crowd drew a collective gasp as within the space of 70 minutes Martin Klizan and Alexandr Dolgopolov called it quits in their first round matches against Djokovic and Federer, respectively -- leaving the Centre Court schedule done and dusted by 4:50 p.m.

Since Klizan and Dolgopolov appeared to have carried injuries into their matches, which meant they must have known they might not last the distance on Tuesday, many observers accused them of being selfish as they short-changed fans and denied fully-fit players a place in the draw.

“There’s got to be a rule for guys who come out clearly not giving or able to give 100 percent. It’s no good for anyone,” tennis great John McEnroe said while commentating on the BBC.

“There are guys waiting in there, the lucky loser will be looking ... and thinking he could have played on Centre Court at Wimbledon.”

Before day two of the championships had even been completed, seven players had thrown in the towel. Nick Kyrgios was the first to pull out on Monday after failing to recover from a hip injury he aggravated at London’s Queen’s Club two weeks ago. Denis Istomin and Viktor Troicki followed suit before Klizan, Dolgopolov, Janko Tipsarevic and Queen’s Club champion Feliciano Lopez also quit.

For many of the fringe players on the tour, featuring in the first round of a Grand Slam allows them to pick up what could be their biggest pay cheque of the year.

With first-round Wimbledon