Wimbledon 2013: Confessions of a tennis fan - A day of massive tremors

Usually the third day of a Grand Slam would mean the seeds easing through, and an upset here and there. But I guess that was not a part of the script for the Championships at SW19 this time around. The turn of events on Wednesday, 26th June could certainly be termed as a seismic shock for the die hard tennis fans. Looking at the schedule yesterday, I believed that it would be an enjoyable day, with the big guns playing to book a spot in the last 32 of the Slam. Also, to top that with bright sunshine, it was surely going to be an action packed day of high quality tennis.

So with my bag of chips, as the action started on the hallowed grounds of Wimbledon, I planted myself in front of the TV with a live score update on my laptop. Little did I know that by the end of the day I would have witnessed some events of epic proportions.

Victoria Azarenka

The biggest news of the past few days was the shock exit of Rafa, shattering any dream of watching the ‘Fedal’ play in the quarters. When Darcis gave a walkover for an injured shoulder, it felt as though the only reason for Darcis to pay was to spoil the party of the Top 4. The next news to come in was that Azarenka had retired injured. Well, for those who saw the first round encounter that slip looked really nasty and Vika limped away to a win in that match. So, I guess this was expected.

Meanwhile, on court 2, the conquerer of Wawrinka, Lleyton Hewitt was being taken to the cleaners by an unknown Jamaican representing Germany. The first impression: “What was going on? Hewitt has been a former champion here, but his unpredictable game could be the cause for the loss.”

Then I heard the news on Wimbledon radio that Marin Cilic, Radek Stepanek and John Isner had all retire injured. Well, for sure this would be an event happening for the first time. On Centre Court, Ana Ivanovic was being humbled by a young Canadian, and I thought to myself, there goes the glamour quotient of the women’s draw. Meanwhile, on court 2, another upset was brewing, the Dane, former world number one Caroline Wozniacki, after a few injury breaks also lost out in straight sets. I thought court 2 had consumed its next big victim, but there was more to come.

Maria Sharapova versus an unknown outside-100 player was expected to be a cakewalk, so I switched off the TV and kept the radio on. In half an hour, I was back in front of the TV set thinking to myself who this Portuguese player with her brown ponytail really was? Was Sharapova really not playing well? She would make a comeback for sure. A few slips on the slippery grass courts and a medical timeout later, I realized maybe there is no coming back. This could be it for the number 2 seed. Larcher Di Brito played an awesome set, returning everything that Masha had to throw at her. After 4 match points and some thrilling points, the number 2 seed was knocked out, leaving the bottom half of the draw barren.

Meanwhile, French Open semifinalist Jo Wilfred Tsonga started well but after losing the 3rd set against Ernest Gulbis, he also walked off with a knee injury. Now this would open up the draw for Murray. Surely the courts at SW19 are not up to the mark. This reminded me of the Madrid Masters on blue clay last year with the seeds tumbling and not being able to cope with the surface. But there was still hope as Murray had eased to the third round on court 1 and a Federer-Murray semifinal was still on the cards.

As the day passed and the shadows lengthened at Wimbledon, some good news came with all the Indians going through to the next round. Another topsy-turvy encounter played out at court 3 with Australian Open semifinalist Sloane Stephens winning in the final set 8-6 against Petkovic.

Now came the time for the final match of the day, watching the ‘King of grass’ on such a day full of upsets would be a soother for sure. But what Federer faced against Sergiy Stakhovsky was beyond my comprehension. Both players held their serve in the first set and Federer won it though in the tie-break. I thought the Ukranian would now lose his momentum and Federer would prevail. Alas, the match maintained the same pace, again going to a tie-break. This time though, it wasn’t Federer who was on the winning side. When the closely fought third set went away from Federer, memories of Falla a few years back came through the mind and with it the belief that Roger can pull it through.

Roger Federer

Even in the fourth set tie-break, when one match point was saved, it felt as though the master had one more bout left in him. Unfortunately, this was not to be, as the gritty Ukranian’s serve and volley game coupled with Federer’s errors resulted in undoubtedly one of the biggest upsets in the history of tennis in a really, really long time.

By the end of the day, I had lost count of the number of upsets and injuries that had taken place. What I witnessed yesterday may be Andy Murray‘s sweetest dreams but the impact that this day of tennis had can surely be described as an earthquake in tennis’s history. Or maybe this could be the handing over of the baton to a new brigade of Gulbis and Stakhovskys, the next generation of tennis stars.