As Jack Draper’s cross-court forehand dropped beyond the chalked line on Thursday evening not only did another British hopeful’s Wimbledon dreams fade away but his defeat cemented a curious piece of history that’s left everyone searching for answers.
Draper, the No4 seed, became the 36th seeded singles player across the men’s and women’s draws to be eliminated before the third round, the most in Grand Slam history, surpassing the previous record of 35 at the 2020 French Open.
It’s been the story of the Championships. Twenty-three seeds went out in round one alone, including eight top 10 seeds, including Alexander Zverev and French Open champion Coco Gauff, the most in any Slam since the start of the Open in 1968.
Only one of the top five women’s seeds began the fifth day still in the tournament, Aryna Sabalenka, who went on to beat Emma Raducanu 8-6, 6-4, and soon No6 seed Madison Keys lost in straight sets to the oldest woman left in the draw, the 37-year-old Laura Siegemund.
The talk over the first few days was that the Wimbledon courts were to blame. They were too slow. ‘This isn’t grass anymore, raged Denis Shapovalov, the Canadian 27th seed who was knocked out in the first round, ‘the court is slower than a clay one.’
American third seed Jessica Pegula, who lost in less than an hour in the first round, said the courts ‘felt different’. Iga Swiatek thought the ball ‘bounced differently’.
The seeded players are being toppled like never before – Jack Draper is just one casualty
Five of the six top women’s seeds are out, including recent French Open champion Coco Gauff
Half of the top men male seeds are out, including No 3 Alexander Zverev, who went out in the first round to Artuhr Rinderknech
That was to be expected. Wimbledon began in the midst of a heatwave with temperatures north of 32 degrees on the opening day making it the hottest in history.
Head groundsman Neil Stubley said the heat would make it play slower as the dry grass grips the ball harder. He revealed his team put stuff in the soil that makes water ‘wetter’ so it can soak up more moisture from it when the mercury starts to rise.
It all felt a bit too much like players looking for excuses. Wimbledon’s grass is cut to the same 8mm length every morning.
‘I think it’s the same as previous years,’ said No11 seed Alex de Minaur, fiance of Britain’s Katie Boulter. ‘It is on the slower side but that’s something we all know and are used to. It’s about finding ways to use it to your advantage.’
‘I can assure you Novak’s shots did not feel slow,’ added Dan Evans after his second-round defeat to Djokovic.
What’s more likely a cause of so many upsets is the quick turnaround from the clay court season to the grass with just three weeks between the end of the French Open and the start of Wimbledon.
Two completely different surfaces, with different skillsets required as clay plays a lot slower, with higher bounces and more spin to the slicker, lower skid of the grass.
It’s why only six men in history, with Carlos Alcaraz the most recent, have won the ‘Channel Slam’ – the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back – and why no woman single’s player has completed it since Serena Williams ten years ago.
Madison Keys tasted defeat at the hands of the oldest player in the draw – 37-year-old Laura Siegemund
The grass is cut to the same length as always, but the quick turnaround from the clay season, and increasing quality of players, has accounted for plenty of upsets
‘This slam out of all of them is the most prone to have upsets because of how quick the turnaround is from clay,’ said Gauff, who triumphed at Roland Garros but only played one match on grass before her first-round exit here.
It wasn’t much better in Paris where 33 – including 20 in the women’s draw – were knocked out before round three.
‘I feel a little bit of pressure because obviously you feel like the opportunity [of an upset] is there,’ admitted 13th seed Amanda Anisimova.
The real reason, perhaps, is a simple one. The standard of tennis is just improving. There’s less of a gap between the good players and the decent ones.
‘The level of tennis increased a lot,’ said 14th seed Andrey Rublev, who reached the fourth round on Friday. ‘The players even 80 or 90 in the world all know how to play tennis.
‘When I started, you could see the difference between top 10 and then the rest. Now you see the difference between Alcaraz and Sinner but from number 3 or 4 in the world, it’s more or less the level is there.’
It was left to former world No1 and Australian Open and US Open champion Naomi Osaka, now unseeded, to sum it up best: ‘I think everyone’s really good. That’s kind of the issue.’
