‘The most nervy matches:’ Why have so many top seeds struggled at Wimbledon?
The opening round of Wimbledon is done and dusted for 2025 – and there has been plenty to talk about.
The unusually hot and dry conditions dominated talk early on, but there was undoubtedly a change as the round went on, with the staggering number of seeded players falling early dominating proceedings.
Twenty-three seeded players went flying out across the men’s and women’s singles draws, a new record for SW19 in the 32-seeded era – and there have been several big-name casualties.
Second seed Coco Gauff was beaten by Dayana Yastremska in the women’s event, with third seed Jessica Pegula and fifth seed Zheng Qinwen also out on Tuesday.
The biggest name to exit the men’s draw was third seed Alexander Zverev, the German beaten in five sets by Arthur Rinderknech, while seventh seed Lorenzo Musetti, eighth seed Holger Rune, and ninth seed Daniil Medvedev also exited the tournament.
Plenty of other big names were also tested in a dramatic opening round of action, including women’s singles sixth seed Madison Keys, the reigning Australian Open champion.
Keys was pushed to the brink by Elena-Gabriela Ruse on Monday, eventually battling past the Romanian 6-7(5), 7-5, 7-5 to reach the second round.
The American has never lost round one at Wimbledon and hasn’t been beaten in the opening round of a major since the 2021 US Open, though knows just how challenging the early stages of Grand Slams are.
“I think the first rounds are always some of the most nervy matches,” commented Keys.
“It’s where you see a lot of upsets in tournaments. You don’t typically see the top, big players getting upset in the second week.
“It’s usually the first couple of rounds I think just because there’s a little bit more pressure, and everyone is just trying to kind of find their play and get more comfortable in the draw.
“The first couple days of the slam are always the most nerve-wracking for all of us.”
Providing a similar assessment was Keys’ compatriot, 10th seed Emma Navarro, who safely dispatched Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-1 to start her campaign on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old knows all too well the dangers of early Slam matches, having won just one game in her opening-round loss to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro at Roland Garros back in May.
“First rounds are really, really tough, especially as a seeded player,” admitted Navarro.
“You have players that kind of have nothing to lose and feel like they’re just going after everything. You know the consequences of losing first round of a Grand Slam. That can be overwhelming sometimes.
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“It’s also like you know your work is cut out for you. To be able to make a run in a Grand Slam, you have to win the tournament, you win seven matches against good players every round.
“It can be easy to feel like there’s a mountain ahead of you. The first challenge is maybe not technically or tennis-wise the hardest, but it’s your first match at a new venue. Even if you’ve played there the year before, things always feel different.
“You feel like there’s a lot of work to be done, and you kind of have to get through this first challenge and then just keep working. It’s not always easy to get through that first challenge.”
Looking at many of the names to have been beaten, the grass-court factor should also be considered a big influence.
Gauff has never made it past round four at the All England Club, and was beaten in round one here two years ago, while Zverev has never made it to the last eight of Wimbledon.
And, while Medvedev reached the semi-final of the event in 2023 and 2024, and was the Halle runner-up this year, he has never really hidden his frustrations regarding the surface.
The former world No 1 had already lost in the second round of the Australian Open and the first round of Roland Garros in 2025, before Monday’s four-set loss to Benjamin Bonzi.
Medvedev admitted he was surprised by his opponent’s level, but claimed that he would have had a better chance to turn the match in his favour on hard courts.
“I just need to try to play better against such opponents. I don’t feel, like coming on the court, almost from the first point, I felt whatever I did, the ball was not really sliding too much through the grass.
“Whatever I did on the court, it was not bothering him too much. Everything he did was tough for me to play. I fought. I tried. I was in the tiebreaks. For sure the tiebreaks, I could have played better.
“I don’t know. The result is there. So just need to try to play better against peaking opponents on hard courts.”
Women’s third seed Pegula, who was beaten in just 58 minutes by Elisabetta Cocciaretto, also felt the nature of grass-courts could have been a factor.
The 31-year-old won the title in Bad Homburg last week, and also won the Berlin Open in 2024 before a second-round defeat at the Championships.
Regardless of her grass-court prowess, grass courts appear to have been a leveller for her, and for many others in the draw.
“It depends on who you’re playing,” conceded the American.
“She [Cocciaretto] has good results on grass, though. I remember I played her fourth round a couple years ago. She obviously likes the grass and does well on it.
“Considering she likes to play on it and it can be tricky, yeah, maybe a little bit. I’m not sure if I can say exactly, but I think it’s definitely maybe higher possibility on a surface like that if the opponent really likes it.”
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