The strange Wimbledon statistic: There was an exodus of seeds in the first rounds

The exodus of seeds in Wimbledon does not stop. To the fifteen who had said goodbye in the first two days of competition, this other Wednesday eightthree from the men’s tournament and five from the women’s one, including the Norwegian one Casper Ruudthird favorite, and the Estonian Anett Kontaveitaccording to.

With the fall of Ruud, in the team led by Novak Djokovic and when the second round has not even finished, only four top 10 remain: the Serbian, the Spaniards Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz and the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Similarly, only seven of the top ten of the ATP rankings entered the tournament: excluding Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev because in All of England They banned the participation of players from their country due to the invasion of Ukraine and the German Alexander Zverev was absent with his right ankle injury suffered in the Roland Garros semi-final against Rafa.

The loss of Ruud was a mixed surprise. Because the Norwegian, number six in the world and winner of eight titles (seven on clay and one on concrete), has very little history on grass: he arrived in London with only four player tournaments and a record of 2-4, two defeats at the debut of this tournament in 2019 and 2021, a fall in the quarter-finals of Mallorca last year and an elimination at Queen’s debut a couple of weeks ago.

Furthermore, Ruud, who at 23 is already the best player in his country’s tennis history, recently assured: “At the moment I feel more comfortable on the golf course than on the tennis court. Grass is for golfers.”. His time at Wimbledon proved he wasn’t lying.

The elimination of Sebastián Báez, seeded 31st, has a similar explanation to the expulsion of Ruud. The 21-year-old from Buenos Aires, one of the jewels of the new Argentine generation, had just played a game on the green field in front of the “big” English. It was last week, in Mallorca, where he reached the second round.

On his all-time debut in London, he scored a nice three-man victory against the Japanese Taro Daniele; but in the second presentation he could not do much against the Belgian David Goffin, a much more experienced rival than him, who beat him 6-1, 6-2 and 6-4.

“I have a great experience and a lot of things to learn and to keep improving. We have to keep building, because the road is very long”, he commented in chat with ESPN the Argentine, however, left with good feelings.

The other seed who said goodbye this Wednesday was the American Reilly Opelka, 15, which also suffered a defeat with some logic. It is that the North American – owner of a record of 2-7 on the grass earlier this week – has lost with Tim van Rijthoven, 104th in the standings but the big revelation of the pre-Wimbledon tour. The Dutchman had just won his first ATP title in ‘s-Hertogenbosch by beating Medvedev, one of the best players on the circuit.

Ruud, Báez and Opelka joined the six favorites who fell in the first round: the Canadian Felix Auger Aliassime (6 °); the Polish Hubert Hurkacz (7 °); the Spanish Pablo Carreno Busta (16 °); Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (18th), injured during the service; the Danish Runa Holger (29th), arrived with the record of 0-2 on grass; and the British Daniel Evans (28 °).

In the women’s draw, the big surprise on Wednesday was the defeat of Kontaveit, second favorite, who lost 6-4, 6-0 to the German Jules Niemeier, 97th in the standings. The Estonian, third in the standings and champion this year in St. Petersburg, explained however that her fall had an explanation.

“I was unable to get to this tournament as prepared as I wanted. I had Covid two months ago and I was wrong to train after a few days of not having strong symptoms. I tried to continue competing, but in all matches I experienced tremendous energy drops. I’ve slept a lot for weeks, but I’m always tired. Last week I felt better, but it’s clearly not enough to face a tournament like this. ” she commented.

Another surprising defeat was that of Emma Raducanu, 10th seeded and current US Open champion. The young English champion, 19, landed in London with little preparation on the grass, because after being injured on his debut in Nottingham he could no longer play until his debut in this tournament.

“I only played seven hours of tennis in the month before Wimbledon,” he said after losing a double 6-3 to the French. Carolina Garcia.

Last year Raducanu had made it to the fourth round of the tournament, but had to retire after suffering a mid-game anxiety attack, which prevented him from breathing normally.

Garbiñe Muguruza, the ninth favorite, did not even make it through the first round. Tournament champion in 2017 and former number one, the Spaniard lost 6-4 and 6-0 to the German Say hello to Minnen, 88th, and has prolonged his bad time. So far this season he has only won 8 of the 20 games he has played.

“This Wimbledon was a bit of a nightmare for me. My level wasn’t like the other years. Today I felt good but when I went out I didn’t have a good feeling, I was disoriented. It’s hard to find an explanation. In matches, I lack the determination to play the important moments, “he told the newspaper Brand.

The other series leaders who have already said goodbye to the London competition were the Romanian Sorana Cirstea (26th) and Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina (29th) in the second round; and the American Danielle Collins (7th), the Swiss belinda bencic (14 °) e Jil Teichman (18th), the Italians Camilla Giorgi (21 °) and Martina Trevisana (22nd), the Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia (23 °); the American Shelby Rogers (30 °) and Estonian kaia kanepi (31 °).

A few injuries, physical problems due to a team overwhelmed by the coronavirus and a great lack of habit of playing on a surface that is far from being the favorite of the majority of the circuit – and which has few appointments during the season -, have left the British Grand Slam without 23 suits too early. Will the exodus continue this Thursday?