Wimbledon 2013: Three main talking points of Day 1

How relieved is Roger Federer at Rafael Nadal’s first round exit from Wimbledon?

Rafael Nadal’s second early exit in a row

Probably the biggest talking point of the entire championships happened within four hours of play on Court One. After nine consecutive finals and seven victories, Nadal was expected to at least challenge for the title this year, even if guys like Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic were possibly more favoured than the Spaniard. What we all didn’t expect was Nadal’s second straight early round exit.

Obviously grass was going to present a new challenge to his reconstructed knee but we still didn’t foresee it to have such an effect on his backhand. Nadal could barely push off with any power and by the third set, he couldn’t even chase down balls that he normally would in his sleep. This probably wasn’t as shocking as Rosol’s victory last year but it still resonated throughout the tennis world. Thanks to Nadal’s exemplary post-match comments where he refused to draw any attention to his knees, there is plenty of speculation about how serious his injury is and how Nadal will fare on hard courts. For now though, the fact remains that Wimbledon has once again lost one of its star names way too early.

What Nadal’s loss means for Roger Federer

We were all guilty of looking too far ahead in the draw; with the prospect of Nadal vs Federer in the quarterfinals to look forward too, everything else took a back seat. Now that his greatest rival is out, Federer’s prospects for winning his record 8th Wimbledon suddenly look a lot brighter. Not only is Nadal out but the dangerous Stanislas Wawrinka is too, so that section of the draw has been blown wide open. All this must sound like harmonic music to Federer’s ears.

Provided he can get by the big serving Jerzy Janowicz in the fourth round, Federer will have either face John Isner, Lleyton Hewitt or Benoit Paire in the quarterfinal. If you offered these three opponents to any quarterfinalist in a Grand Slam, he will snatch those magic beans out of your hands quicker than a Roddick serve. There were questions about whether the Swiss could beat three of the ‘Big Four’ in the same tournament. Now that he will only have to beat Murray and Djokovic (probably) to win his 8th title, Federer couldn’t have had a better first day at Wimbledon 2013. And judging by the way he dismantled Victor Hanescu, who is 87 places higher than Nadal’s conqueror in the ATP rankings, the Fed Express already seems to be flying out of the station.

Victoria Azarenka’s fitness

Whilst there is plenty of mystery over the men’s champion, in the women’s draw, almost everyone is picking Serena Williams to lift the trophy. And while I share their view, there is still plenty of intrigue about which player can at least challenge her or exploit the opportunity if she somehow loses.

One of the main also rans contenders is Victoria Azarenka. She was cruising along nicely against Maria Koehler, winning the first set 6-1, when everything changed. After a particularly bad slip on the grass, the whole crowd on Court One held their breath as Azarenka let out an agonizing scream and lay sobbing and sprawled on the ground for a good 60 seconds. After receiving a mummy’s worth of strapping on her right knee, she battled past Koehler 6-2 in the final set.

But Azarenka’s biggest challenge is still to come. Her next opponent, Flavia Pennetta, is exceptional at getting balls back into play and making her foes move around the court, something Azarenka found almost impossible to do yesterday. If that knee hasn’t fully recovered, the Belarusian might be making an early exit from SW19 this year.