–

The near perfection of Day 1, when they got through all but a few sets in one of a total of 64 matches, was unsustainable.

And in the end, that’s the challenge of Wimbledon. It’s a natural surface on which you can’t play too early or too late (even if they had lights, which save for the two stadium courts they don’t) because, well dew and moisture. And, of course, rain.

And yet, on the first two days of the tournament, there are 64 matches each day. And matches in pro tennis aren’t getting any shorter. And the men play best-of-five.

A couple of not-particularly long rain delays Tuesday mean the following: five first-round matches to finish and two to start on the men’s side; one match is to be finished and six more hadn’t yet begun on the women’s side.

That made for a late-arriving schedule Tuesday night, and you can see why. They didn’t know what stage the matches on court would be at. Those matches needed to be on the original court when they resumed. The ones that didn’t start were, in part, moved to other courts so that all of them could get finished. And then there was the first day of doubles to schedule, with some of the planned matches no longer viable because some players involved had unexpected singles.

Can we get the schedule for tomorrow soon pls @Wimbledon ?! 🙏🏻🌱🎾
— Stanislas Wawrinka (@stanwawrinka) July 2, 2024

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Upset Watch

– Thanasi Kokkinakis has a poundingly annoying habit of taking far better-ranked players to five sets in Grand Slams. He doesn’t always win. But early in the fourth as as he and Félix Auger-Aliassime resume hostilities Wednesday, the Canadian needs to be wary.

– Can veteran Fabio Fognini pull off a No. 2 Court upset over No. 8 seed Casper Ruud? No longer the “Graveyard Court” since the rebuilding some years ago, it’s still a court where things can happen. At 37, Fognini is near the end, but he has been a somewhat reliable third-rounder at Wimbledon since his debut in 2008, when he lost to Marat Safin. Ruud’s somewhat amusing disdain for the lawns is well known (he likes them – for golf). And in five previous trips, including the qualifying in his debut in 2018, he’s won just two matches. A year ago, he lost to British wild card Liam Broady – 6-0 in the fifth.

– Plenty of potential upsets on the women’s side: Kudermetova over Krejcikova, Fruhvirtova over Badosa, Raducanu over Mertens and … Osaka over Navarro.

Wimbledon Day 3 – Women’s singles final results

Wimbledon Day 3 – Men’s singles final results

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Weather Forecast

It’s going to be cool again, and mostly cloudy. With some rain expected at various points in the day – especially in the early afternoon depending on which forecast you look at, it could be wait and see at times.

Even as play was to begin on the outer courts at 11 a.m. – already, Wimbledon was in holding pattern.

But with the roofs, two matches will start as scheduled – at 1 p.m. on No. 1 Court, and at 1:30 p.m. on Centre Court.

But it’s literally nothing like that year when – pre Centre Court roof – Rafael Nadal (to name one) went on and off court like a yo-yo and didn’t finish his first-round match until … Friday.

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Canadian Content

Bianca Andreescu (against No. 26 seed Linda Noskova) and Denis Shapovalov (against Daniel Altmaier) are up for their regularly-scheduled second-round clashes on Wednesday.

(Yes, yes, Andreescu did sing “O Canada” on court after her first-round win. We’ll give her “A” for effort, “A+” for chutzpah, and leave the evaluation of her singing ability to the individual).

1. Happy Canada Day! 🇨🇦
2. So happy to be playing in my first @Olympics representing Canada in Paris ❤️
3. Onto rd 2 @Wimbledon 💪🏼 peep the video at the end 🤣 pic.twitter.com/6p8jNTO0Y0
— Bianca (@Bandreescu_) July 1, 2024

Chilean-Canadian Alejandro Tabilo, who was up a set against Brit Dan Evans (a worthy adversary, but one who injured himself – as many did – two weeks ago at Queen’s Club), will finish Wednesday.

As will Auger-Aliassime, who probably should have already been “in the clubhouse” and enjoying an off-day.

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Felix doesn’t finish it off

Auger-Aliassime caught a break on Tuesday at Andy Murray’s expense when he was shuffled to No. 2 Court from No. 17 in the game of dominos following the Brit’s withdrawal.

Instead of being fourth on court (and likely barely even able to start), he was two sets to the good and on his way to wrapping it up against Kokkinakis when … he failed to convert on four match points in the third set tiebreak.

No. 3, on his serve at 9-8, was especially painful as after a long rally in which Kokkinakis defended for his life, Auger-Aliassime finally had a short forehand into the open court. And dumped it into the net.

Auger-Aliassime and Kokkinakis awaiting the supervisor’s arrival Tuesday evening to tell then what they already know: the grass is getting damp on No. 2 court, and they’re going to have to call it a day. (BBC)

The next thing you know, Kokkinakis had won the set. And while it was about 8:15 p.m. at this point, they thought they might have another 45 minutes. Until Kokkinakis pointed out some damp spots near his baseline.

After an infernally lengthy wait for the referee to come and confirm what the players and chair umpire Kader Nouni knew to be true, they stopped just two games into the fourth set.

They’ll resume today. The winner will play wither Laslo Djere or qualifier Lucas Pouille, who were stopped at one set apiece on Tuesday.

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“Hitting partner” Kyrgios

Nick Kyrgios may be a full-time television pundit these days. He’s working for ESPN, and also for the BBC during the Wimbledon fortnight.

But he may not have given up on resuming his career.

At the very least, he is in the right place to get started hitting again against quality opponents.

Hitting with Novak tomorrow on his day off 🫢🫣 feel like a little kid again…. Feeling excited. Long way back from this surgery!
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) July 2, 2024

Kyrgios had knee surgery in Jan. 2023.

And then, late last summer, he had wrist surgery. It wasn’t commonly known, even though wrist surgeries have sadly become part of the tennis landscape more and more in recent years.

According to a story in the Canberra Times last week, he first sprained his wrist during a match against Grigor Dimitrov more than nine years ago. But a year ago, hitting at Wimbledon, it took a turn for the worse – the diagnosis was a full rupture of the scapholunate ligament.

The scar is SERIOUS. The description of the surgery no less so.

In this piece, which was done before he left Australia to go to Wimbledon, he said this:

“If (Djokovic) wants to have a hit at Wimbledon I wouldn’t mind at all,” Kyrgios said. “That’s where my level was when I left. It’d be good to get back into it. Just to be in that environment, not necessarily participating in the tournament, but getting around it again and feeling like normal, it would be great.”

That’s happening Wednesday. Kyrgios is scheduled to play the UTS event, which takes place at Forest Hills (the old site of the US Open) the week before the final Grand Slam of the season.

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First Since Steffi

If Marketa Vondrousova hadn’t been the reigning Wimbledon champion, with the honour of stepping on Centre Court on the first Tuesday of the tournament promptly at 1:30 p.m., she might not have come at all.

Vondrousova, like so many players, slipped and fell on the lush grass during the tuneup events – in her case, she was serving for the first set against Anna Kalinskaya, in the second round.

Grass can be so treacherous. pic.twitter.com/mPF9xAJF5x
— Tennis Blockade (@tennisblockade) June 20, 2024

To take nothing away from opponent Jessica Bouzos Maneiro, a 21-year-old Spaniard at a career-high No. 83 in the rankings who came in with a 35-13 record in 2024 (mostly at the lower levels), it was clear Vondrousova was far from fit Tuesday, when she did get that rare honour on Centre Court.

It was over in 67 minutes, 6-4, 6-2.

The rarest of first round victories ✨#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/Nrx4dkiOdm
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 2, 2024

It put Vondrousova in an unenviable club; this was the first time in … 30 years that the Wimbledon ladies’ champion had returned the next year and was upset in the first round. But she’s in good company; that champion was Steffi Graf. And the player who beat her the top-shelf grass-court player Lori McNeil.

In Grand Slams in general, it happened twice in 2022 – Emma Raducanu at the US Open, and Barbora Krejcikova at Roland Garros. Others: Jelena Ostapenko in Paris in 2018, Angelique Kerber at the US Open in 2017. Svetlana Kuznetsova at the US Open and Anastasia Myskina at Roland Garros in 2005. And Jennifer Capriati at the Australian Open in 2003.

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The heir apparent

You knew, once big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetschi Perricard got his shot at the Wimbledon draw as a lucky loser, that he could cause some havoc.

And so it was Tuesday, when he took on No. 20 seed Sebastian Korda in a match that saw its first break of serve in the fifth set.

Korda’s reaction: “*&$^#$%ing joke”.

The 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6), 6-7 (4), 6-3 win, which took a relatively tidy three hours, 21 minutes, was a throwback to the days of Ivo Karlovic. Not necessarily in a good way – but it’s not like tennis fans get fed a steady diet of “serve-botting” these days.

Actually, quite the opposite.

***A lot of the time, all Korda could do was stand there and watch the bombs go by.***

The big (6-foot-8) burly Mpetschi Perricard is just getting started; he doesn’t turn 21 for another five days. But he’s already in the top 60. And in the win over Korda, served 51 aces to Korda’s 18. He also had 10 double faults, but a lot of that can be put to how much he went for his second serve.

He only had four chances to break Korda’s serve. But he converted one. Korda had 11 shots at it – but more often than not, Mpetschi Perricard would drop a bomb.

1ST WIN IN WIMBLEDON ☄️🌱 pic.twitter.com/3JRPhoiJd9
— Mpetshi Perricard Giovanni (@MpetshiG) July 2, 2024

L’Equipe went to see the recently-retired John Isner for his insight, as Isner (who served up 14,470 aces during his career) is at Wimbledon this first week punditing for ESPN.

“You can clearly see he’s a work in progress. He has a very good forehand and even if his (one-handed) backhand will probably remain his weaker side, he’ll continue to improve it. But what impresses me is how well he moves (for his size),” Isner said. “And since he also knows how to rally sometimes, when he needs it, he’ll be extremely tough to face for many years.”

Isner said he wouldn’t touch a thing about Mpetschi Perricard’s serve technique. “It seems perfect to me.”