Top Ten Shocks of Wimbledon Week One
Wimbledon
July 7, 2019
Wimbledon 2019 has been full of shocks and drama in Week One.
Just as well our ticket service has been so reliable and dependable as always!
We love surprises on court though. So we have compiled our top ten tennis shocks from Wimbledon this year.
We hope you enjoy them. In reverse order:
10. Mikhail Kukushkin beats John Isner.
Big John didn’t have too many matches under his belt of late. But even so he was number nine seed and more than happy on grass.
Kukushkin is only ranked 58 but beat the American 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. Surprising stuff.
9. Yulia Putintseva knocks out Naomi Osaka.
Centre Court. The opening day. The world number two is dispatched by the unseeded Putintseva 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.
What? You think this should have been ranked higher? Putintseva is 39th in the world, pretty high, and crucially Osaka has never performed well on grass
8. Sam Querrey beats Dominic Thiem.
The Roland Garros finalist and fifth seed falls to a little-known American, Querrey winning 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-1), 6-3, 6-0.
A shock, yes. But remember, Thiem is primarily a clay court specialist and Querrey knocked out Novak Djokovic in 2016.
7. Garbine Muguruza loses to Beatriz Haddad Maia.
OK, Muguruza hasn’t been playing well of late. But she won Wimbledon only two years ago.
And the Brazilian is only ranked 121 in the world. So this was quite an upset.
6. Guido Pella beats Kevin Anderson.
Anderson was last year’s Wimbledon finalist. He looked to have overcome recent injury worries.
But the 26th seed from Argentina tamed the famed Anderson serve to win 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).
5. Thomas Fabbiano knocks out Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas was tipped for great things at Wimbledon this year and seeded seventh. We thought he might even spark some kind of Bjorn Borg-style mania.
Instead Stefanos didn’t make it past day one. Fabbiano is only ranked 89 but he won 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 7-5. A remarkable turn of events.
4. Jiri Vesely defeats Alexander Zverev.
Sascha has never performed well in the Grand Slam tournaments. But his breakthrough came in London at the end of last year when he won the ATP Tour Finals.
A return to London should have seen Zverev step up to the plate. Instead the Czech qualifier Jiri Vesely, ranked 124, beat him 4-6, 6-3- 6-2, 7-5. Truly astonishing.
3. Coco Gauff beats Venus Williams
We know what you’ll say. Why isn’t this number one? Coco is only fifteen, Venus is thirty-nine. But that’s just it. Williams is pushing forty and Coco is a physically mature teenager.
Even so, this was a qualifier against a legend. And Venus is still ranked a very respectable 44. She loves the Wimbledon grass. So what Gauff did to win 6-4, 6-4 was amazing.
2. Lauren Davis Stuns Angelique Kerber.
No one saw this coming. Kerber was the defending Wimbledon champion and she had shown some impressive form recently.
Most incredible of all, Davis was only there as a lucky loser. The American is only ranked 95th in the world. Yet she recovered to win 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.
1. Coco Gauff Staggers Polona Hercog.
So many factors counted against fifteen-year-old Coco in this one that it has to take top spot.
The pressure of expectation on the youngster had been building all week. This was Centre Court. It might all have proved too much.
And you have to remember how desperately close to defeat Coco was.
She had lost the first set 3-6, she was 2-5 down in the second, and then she even faced two match points.
Somehow she shocked and delighted the world by making a mockery of the match situation and all logocal predictions at that stage.
What an upset! What a staggering Wimbledon this is!
And who knows which underdog will emerge to turn the tables in Week Two?
Let’s face it, if Coco can beat Simona Halep then that would become the biggest shock of them all.
We can only wait for whatever comes next. Expect the unexpected in this glorious Wimbledon of 2019.
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