Sunday, June 30, 2013

Ready for Week Two?

Last week was surely one of the most unusual Wimbledon first weeks ever. Who knows what the final week has in store for us, but in the meantime, here's a look at some of the events we've already witnessed:

Five former WTA world number 1 players went out in the second round on what's now being called Black Wednesday. Victoria Azarenka withdrew because of a knee injury she sustained in the first round. Caroline Wozniacki, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, and--the biggest news of all--Maria Sharapova, were all defeated in straight sets. Two former ATP world number 1 players were also defeated.

Five players retired or withdrew because of injury on Black Wednesday. Most of those were ATP players, but--in addition to Azarenka--Yaroslava Shvedova withdrew from the tournament.

Players slipped and fell on the grass repeatedly. Azarenka, Sharapova, Wozniacki, and Petra Kvitova were among the many who slipped, sometimes more than once.

Monica Puig became the first Puerto Rican player in the Open Era to reach the round of 16 at a major.

Three Italian players made it to the women's round of 16, a phenomenon that fans would be expecting to occur in Paris, but not in London. One of them was not Sara Errani, Italy's top player.

While you're waiting to find out what kind of bizarre things are yet to come, you can enjoy the latest installment of the adventures of Citizen Anna, Commander Sloane and poor soul Maria Sharapova, as they fight bravely to save us all from the ultimate evil of The Radwanska.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Petra pulled a Kvitova. She won the set, 7-6 (5). It was a horror show of terrible returning from both Petra and Carla. In fact, I cannot recall a match anywhere with so many bad returns. The ones that were returned led to a lot of good points, a few going to 17 strokes. I wonder whether Petra has the capacity to focus for more than ten or fifteen minutes.

Anonymous said...

Kvitova won in straight sets. Played a better second set. Her ground game was atrocious early in the match. She was aided by the worst return games imaginable from Carla. Toward the end of the first set, Kvitova began to find the range, and as the match progressed, her accuracy did as well. She served very well on the big points against her. Jeez. The rollercoaster. She does not appear to be in good physical shape. A bit overweight and all sorts of bandages on her legs and ankle.