By Michael Davey
The 2025 Wimbledon Championships are underway, and the first round saw a record exodus of top players as a total of 23 seeds were knocked out – 13 on the men’s side and 10 on the women’s.
Amongst the carnage at a boiling hot SW19, notable casualties included Coco Gauff (No.2), Jessica Pegula (No.3), and Qinwen Zheng (No.5) in the Ladies’ Singles and Alexander Zverev (No.3) in the Gentlemen’s Singles.
Gauff ‘disappointed’ by Wimbledon exit
French Open champion Gauff was the biggest victim of the opening round as she lost 6-7, 1-6 to Dayana Yastremska.
The second seed looked decidedly off her game, double-faulting nine times, and was deservedly sent packing by the Ukrainian world No.42.
“I feel like mentally I was a little bit overwhelmed with everything that came after [the French Open],” an emotional Gauff admitted in the post-match press conference.
“I didn’t feel like I had enough time to celebrate and also get back into it.
“I definitely was struggling in the locker room. I don’t like losing. I just feel a little bit disappointed in how I showed up today.”
Wimbledon remains an unhappy hunting ground for Gauff, with the American suffering two first-round losses in the last three years and still waiting on a debut semi-final appearance.
“I think it’s just changing my playing style a little bit, which is difficult,” Gauff explained when asked about her plans to reverse a poor record at SW19.
“I have faith that, if I can make these adjustments, I can do well here. I really do want to do well here.”
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Favourites struggle in first round
Novak Djokovic had to fight hard – and overcome a medical timeout – to dispatch Alexandre Muller 6-1, 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 and set up a second-round meeting with Briton Dan Evans, who beat countryman Jay Clarke 6-1, 7-5, 6-2 for his first Wimbledon win in four years.
“I’d love it to be on Centre [Court], to get a chance to play him [Djokovic],” Evans claimed after his victory.
“He’s at the latter end of his career, and I’d go out there and give it a really good go. It would be special in England to play the greatest of all time.”
Defending Ladies’ Singles champion Barbora Krejčíková, meanwhile, had to mount a comeback in order to get past Alexandra Eala 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.
The Czech star lauded her 20-year-old opponent’s fight, saying: “I mean, what the hell [kind of tennis] she played in the first set? She was smashing the ball and cleaning the lines, so wow, wow. She’s going to be really good in a couple of years.”
Elsewhere, men’s third-seed Alexander Zverev was knocked out by Arthur Rinderknech after a marathon, two-day 6-7, 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, 4-6 loss and women’s third-seed Jessica Pegula saw her tournament end prematurely at the hands of Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
“I don’t know. She played absolutely incredible tennis,” the 2024 US Open runner-up conceded in the wake of a 2-6, 3-6 defeat.
“Do I think I played the best match ever? No. But I definitely don’t think I was playing bad. It’s really a bummer to lose. I haven’t lost [in the] first round of a Slam in a very long time, so that sucks.”
The women’s draw was further rocked by the elimination of world No.5 Qinwen Zheng, with the Chinese star – and current Olympic champion – suffering a 5-7, 6-4, 1-6 reverse to doubles specialist Kateřina Siniaková.
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Geoffrey H. Latayan