Opening Day Confessions from a Wimbledon Junkie

10:00 PM

I haven’t moved an inch from my seat, as the French Open champion slides ever closer to disaster. Nadal’s hobbling becomes progressively more pronounced, and the unforced errors continue to flow. By the middle of the third set, it becomes painfully clear that Nadal isn’t going to make it on the strength of his game today, he needs some loose play from his opponent. But Darcis is in no mood to oblige. He impresses with his sense of purpose and focused aggressive intent, and closes out the match in straight sets with considerable elan.

Injury or not, Nadal has just suffered his second straight shock upset at Wimbledon. I think this is even more shocking than last time around, because Darcis doesn’t fit the profile of the typical, but rare, Nadal-conquerer at Grand Slams: big guys with bigger games, the likes of Robin Soderling and Lukas Rosol. I realize I need to know more about Darcis. I turn to the internet and join the growing legions around the world contributing to make Steve Darcis the trending topic for the day.

11:30 PM

The contest I had expected to be the match of the day is going only one-way at the moment. Lleyton Hewitt leads Stanislas Wawrinka by two sets to none. Wawrinka is striking the ball well, and continues to open up the court in the way only he can, but the gritty veteran in Hewitt is playing great defence and also the key points better, and gradually frustrates the Swiss. I have an internet stream running in parallel, showing another intriguing encounter between two American youngsters – Sloane Stephens and Jamie Hampton. The stream is in Italian, and it is fun to hear excitable commentary in an unintelligible tongue, set against the peaceful surroundings of a Wimbledon outside court.

12:00 AM

It might be a new day here, but play is still under way on a rain-free opening Monday in Wimbledon. It has been a shocking day of upsets, and I am counting my losses in my draw picks. Nadal, Errani and Tipsarevic have all fallen by the wayside, and I go through the draws again, trying to fathom the new possibilities now. Tomorrow, Djokovic, Serena and a hundred other players will take to the courts, trying to add their individual threads to the already simmering cauldron of storylines. Whose turn will it be to suffer a shock upset? Who will script a memorable come-from-behind victory? Who will disappoint, and who will excel? I can hardly wait to find out. Wimbledon is well and truly under way.