Top seeds fall by the wayside at Wimbledon
First round hero falls victim to dreaded bogey
MARIA Sharapova and Roger Federer became the most high profile casualties, along with Rafael Nadal, in what has become a Wimbledon of upsets as seeds continue to fall.
Defending champion Federer was knocked out in the second round by Ukraine’s world number 116 Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5), 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) on Centre Court.
The loss brought to an end seven-time champion Federer’s extraordinary record in the majors.
Federer had made 36 consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances, having not gone out of a major before the last eight since the 2004 French Open.
It was his earliest Wimbledon defeat since he was knocked out in the first round in 2002 by Mario Ancic.
Sharapova pleaded with Wimbledon to allow players to practise on their cherished show courts in an effort to solve the injury crisis that has plagued the tournament.
The Russian third seed and 2004 champion suffered a painful second round exit at the hands of Portuguese qualifier, Michelle Larcher De Brito, the world 131, on the unfamiliar surroundings of Court Two yesterday.
Sharapova slipped three times, complained the surface was dangerous and needed a medical time-out to treat her hip she injured in her falls.
De Brito also believes Court Two was treacherous.
Earlier, former world number one Caroline Wozniacki fell and needed her ankle bandaged on her way to defeat to Petra Cetkovska.
Yesterday there were seven injury pullouts either through retirements or withdrawals, a record for one day at a Grand Slam. World number two and Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka withdrew just minutes before she was due on Centre Court to face Italian veteran Flavia Pennetta for a place in the third round with a knee injury.
That injury was picked up when she fell on Monday in her opening win.
French sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga quit his match with Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis with a knee injury at the end of the third set.
Steve Darcis, the conqueror of Rafael Nadal, withdrew with a shoulder injury also suffered through a fall on Court One on Monday.
Croatian 10th seed Marin Cilic and Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova withdrew while John Isner and Radek Stepanek quit during their second round matches.
“It would be great if the club or somebody who takes care of the court would examine or try to find an issue so that wouldn’t happen,” said Azarenka.
There have already been calls for the men’s matches to be reduced to best-of-three sets at the Grand Slams, instead of five in an effort to reduce injuries.
Some also want to see Wimbledon, the Australian and French Opens follow the example of the US Open and introduce a fifth-set tie-breaker.
But many players feel the Grand Slam format is what makes it special and that it should remain as is. — Sapa