Wimbledon havoc as record number of seeds exit: Coco Gauff and Alexander Zverev among them
It was a brutal opening two days for seeds at Wimbledon 2025, particularly those in the top 10 as a record number have fallen in the first round.
In fact, quite a few milestones have been set at the 2025 edition of the grass-court Grand Slam.
In total, 23 seeded players were beaten in the first round at the All England Club and there have been several high-profile casualties with new French Open champion and second seed Coco Gauff the highest seed to fall so far.
The two-time Grand Slam winner was upset by Dayana Yastremska as she lost 7-6 (7-3), 6-1, but she was far from the only big-name player to go down as men’s third seed Alexander Zverev lost in five sets against Arthur Rinderknech.
World No 2 Gauff, though, feels the Wimbledon carnage is down to the switch from clay to grass.
“I feel like historically Wimbledon always has so many upsets first rounds here, to be honest. I think it’s always a topic,” the American stated.
“I mean, I think I would say really the quick turnaround most of the seeds are going deeper in Roland Garros, and then you spend like a long clay season, and then you have to come and try to adjust to grass.
“Like you said, some people play the week before, but it’s like you come here. I think Jess [Pegula] won on Saturday. She’s lucky that she was on this side of the draw to play on Tuesday. It’s not the easy, quick turnaround.
“Then if you go deep in Roland Garros, you’re debating on do I rush and play that week, or do I take time and play the week before? It’s a tricky thing.
“It seems like Carlos [Alcaraz] and Novak [Djokovic] are the ones to figure it out. Even he [Alcaraz] had a tough first-round match. Yeah, I think it’s just a combination of everything.
“I don’t know if it’s just the conditions this year. I really just think it’s that in this turnaround, I think this Slam out of all of them is the most prone to have upsets because of how quick the turnaround is from clay.”
Wimbledon News
Alexander Zverev makes some startling comments after shock Wimbledon exit
Coco Gauff analyses grass-court struggles after stunning Wimbledon defeat
About The Records
– The total of 23 seeds (13 men and 10 women) have already exited the tournament, which is a new record for Wimbledon since Grand Slams switched to 32 seeds in 2001.
– Eight top-10 seeds (four men and four women) have lost which is a new record for the opening round of a Grand Slam in the Open Era with Coco Gauff (2), Jessica Pegula (3), Zheng Qinwen (5) and Paula Badosa (9) the WTA stars to fall. On the men’s side, Alexander Zverev (3), Lorenzo Musetti (7), Holger Rune (8) and Daniil Medvedev (9) failed to reach the second round.
– It is the first time in the Open Era that two of the top three seeds in the women’s draw have lost in the first round of a Grand Slam with world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka the only one left after Gauff and Pegula’s demise.
– It is the second time that 13 seeds in the men’s draw have lost in the first round as it also happened at the 2004 Australian Open, but Wimbledon could still get the outright record as the 29th seed Brandon Nakashima still has to complete his opening match against Bu Yunchaokete.
“I said upsets are very contagious this morning didn’t think we would 8 combined top 10 seeds out @Wimbledon and and bunch others, there are some absolutely wide open sections now,” renowned coach Brad Gilbert tweeted.
The Seeds Who Have Fallen
Men
3. Alexander Zverev lost against Arthur Rinderknech
7. Lorenzo Musetti lost against Nikoloz Basilashvili
8. Holger Rune lost against Nicolas Jarry
9. Daniil Medvedev lost against Benjamin Bonzi
16. Francisco Cerundolo lost against Nuno Borges
18. Ugo Humbert lost against Gael Monfils
20. Alexei Popyrin lost against Arthur Fery
24. Stefanos Tsitsipas lost against Valentin Royer
27. Denis Shapovalov lost against Mariano Navone
30. Alex Michelsen lost against Miomir Kecmanovic
31. Tallon Griekspoor lost against Jenson Brooksby
32. Matteo Berrettini lost against Kamil Majchrzak
Women
2. Coco Gauff lost against Dayana Yastremska
3. Jessica Pegula lost against Elisabetta Cocciaretto
5. Zheng Qinwen lost against Katerina Siniakova
9. Paula Badosa lost against Katie Boulter
15. Karolina Muchova lost against Wang Xinyu
20. Jelena Ostapenko lost against Sonay Kartal
25. Magdalena Frech lost against Victoria Mboko
26. Marta Kostyuk lost against Veronika Erjavec
27. Magda Linette lost against Elsa Jacquemot
32. McCartney Kessler lost against Marketa Vondrousova
