Hubert Hurkacz came into Wimbledon as a contender for the title. He’ll leave after the first round.
The seventh-seeded Pole lost to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain 7-6(4), 6-4, 5-7, 2-6, 7-6 (10-8) on the opening day of the tournament.
The 25-year-old beat Roger Federer a year ago on centre court on the way to the semi finals. He then prepared for Wimbledon by beating top-ranked Daniil Medvedev in the final of the grass-court event in Halle, Germany.
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Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic continues to makes history after fulfilling the traditional honour of opening proceedings.
Djokovic, a six-time champion at the All England Club, beat South Korea’s Kwon Soon-woo 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on centre court, his 80th victory at the grass-court major. With it, he became the first man or woman to win that many matches at each of the four grand slam tennis tournaments.
“It’s always a very unique match to play as the defending champion, first on the grass,” said Djokovic, who won his 22nd straight match at the tournament.
“Other than this year that Wimbledon made a change so you could practise before the tournament starts, it was always coming out on the untouched grass. It’s really a unique and special feeling in our sport.”
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Djokovic was playing for the first time since losing to Rafael Nadal last month in the quarter finals at Roland-Garros.
It didn’t all go his way, however.
With the roof closed because of sporadic rain, Kwon was able to pick his spots with his booming forehand. It all came together in the second set and even continued into the third, but Djokovic stepped it up and played like he usually plays in southwest London — unbeatable.
Djokovic has won the last three Wimbledon titles and is going for his seventh overall. That would put him in a tie for the second-most with Pete Sampras and William Renshaw. Only Federer, with eight, has more.
Another major title would give him 21 for his career. Nadal has 22, and Federer has 20.
Most of Djokovic’s grand slam singles championships have come at the Australian Open, where he is a nine-time champion. But he was unable to defend his title in Melbourne this year after being deported because of COVID-19 vaccination protocols.
Despite that issue, the crowd on centre court was happy to see the Serbian back at Wimbledon.
“I felt support,” said Djokovic, who may be banned from playing at the US Open and again at the Australian Open because he is unvaccinated.
“I guess that motivates me more to try to make the most out of this tournament,” he said.
After Djokovic finished, Emma Raducanu took to centre court for the first time.
The 19-year-old British player, who won the US Open last year, was playing at the All England Club for the first time since retiring from her fourth-round match a year ago.
“It’s an incredibly special feeling to be coming back here to Wimbledon,” said the 10th-seeded Raducanu, who beat Alison Van Uytvanck 6-4, 6-4.
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The first player to reach the second round was Alison Riske. The 28th-seeded American defeated Ylena In-Albon of Switzerland 6-2 6-4.
Other seeded women who advanced were No.2 Anett Kontaveit of Estonia, No.3 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, No.24 Elise Mertens of Belgium and No.29 Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine. Kalinina will face another Ukrainian, Lesia Tsurenko, in the second round.
Aussie qualifier Maddison Inglis was defeated by Dalma Galfi 7-5 3-6 4-6, while Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins crashed out in three sets.
French Open finalist Casper Ruud won his opening match. The third-seeded Norwegian defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6(1) 7-6(9) 6-2.
Also in the men’s draw, No.5 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, No. 9 Cam Norrie of Britain, No.20 John Isner of the United States, No. 22 Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia, No.23 Frances Tiafoe of the United States and No.30 Tommy Paul of the United States advanced.
Meanwhile, Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis set up a round two clash with Djokovic, defeating Kamil Majchrzak 7-6(5) 6-2 7-5, as compatriots Max Purcell, John Millman and James Duckworth also has their campaigns ended.
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