Stan exits as grass allergy strikes again
T HREE quarters of the way to greatness but that might just be as good as it gets for Stan Wawrinka.
Wins in the opens of France, Australia and the US can never be taken away but a puzzlesolving win at Wimbledon might never be his.
The Swiss world no 3 became the biggest casualty of these championships yesterday after a recurrence of what could be an incurable allergy to grass.
For a player of such sublime touch and bludgeoning power, he cannot quite seem to deal with the nuances of tennis on this surface and so his collection remains incomplete.
This year it was down to Daniil medvedev, a 21-year-old Russian with a promising future and a chequered past, having been defaulted from a match in the US in April 2016 over allegations he denies of a racist remark. he had also never won a match at a Slam, but after two quarter-finals and a semi-final in eastbourne in the past three weeks on grass, the world no 49 plainly has something on this surface that Wawrinka does not.
how he used it in this 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over the fifth seed, who has never gone past the quarter-finals here.
For medvedev, it means a place in the second round and for Andy murray it means Wawrinka has disappeared off the radar, having previously been a possible opponent in the last eight. For Wawrinka? only regrets.
The 32- year- old had the chance to become only the ninth man in history to win the career Slam, but that fell apart on centre court in a performance of 39 unforced errors. A knee problem was partially responsible, but the looping spins and movement of 6ft 5in medvedev were the greater issue. Wawrinka, who also lost in the first round at Queen’s, said: ‘i’ve had some problems with the knees since Queen’s so it was not the way i wanted to get ready, but medvedev is a really good player.
‘i expected a tough match and he was playing well on grass. he moves good and loves grass. he’s a really dangerous player.’
medvedev kissed the turf at the end and said: ‘A year ago i was 250th in the rankings and if someone said i would not only play on centre but win i’d have said, “You’re joking”.
‘i knew i had a chance if i played good, and i played amazing.’
Unlike Wawrinka, second seed Rafael nadal was brutally effective in his first match on grass for two years as he crushed John millman, an Australian ranked 137 in the world.
The Spaniard, 31, had raised questions about how his troublesome knees might adapt to the surface, but was deeply impressive in 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 win.
it was nadal’s 44th win of 2017, the best of any man on tour. Victory continued his remarkable resurgence after a 2016 season in which he withdrew from Wimbledon with injury and did not go beyond the fourth round at any Slam.
having reached the final of the Australian open and won at Roland Garros already this year, he is again looking like the all-court master of old.
only so much can be gleaned from wins like this but in the context of nadal’s history at Wimbledon — four losses to players outside the top 100 in each of his past four visits — this was encouraging.
he said: ‘ it was a very positive match for me, a good start but that’s doesn’t mean a lot. my knees are ready for the second round and i have positive feelings in terms of my health. That’s important for now.’