(July 3, 2023) While four-time defending champion and No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic cruised on day one of Wimbledon winning in straight sets over Pedro Cachin of Argentina 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (4), seventh seed Coco Gauff lost a first round battle to former Australian Open champion and qualifier Sofia Kenin 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 on No. 1 Court.
After her first major trophy, Kenin was besieged by injuries as well as Covid-19 and has had to fight her way back to climb her way up in the rankings by even playing tournaments on the Challenger level. Before the Wimbledon Qualifying tournament began, Kenin was ranked at 128th in the world.
“She had nothing to lose today,” Gauff said to media. “Obviously she won a Grand Slam, but she’s in a tough spot in her career.
“So I knew coming in she would play with a lot of motivation. It was all about how I would play today and how I would take care of my end of the court. I did in certain moments, but obviously not enough.”
Just fourt years ago, Gauff at 15 was the youngest player to advance into the main draw through the qualifying.
Kenin said the she kept telling herself: “Don’t get anxious or super excited.”
“I know where I was,” Kenin said, “and where I should be.” Kenin picked on Gauff’s forehand, her weaker side.
“I didn’t really put too much pressure on her,” Gauff said. “I felt like she could make a ball on the court (and) didn’t have to be as good — and I wouldn’t do much with it. That’s what happened.”
Over on Centre Court, five-time champion, Venus Williams, 43 was coming into the tournament as a Wild Card to play her 24th time at the All England Club. the American lost to another Wild Card in Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-3. After going up a break in the first set, the seven-time major champion suffered a hard fall on the court and her opponent seemed to take over the match after that.
“I’m not sure what I’ve done. I’m going to have to investigate it tomorrow. It’s late today. But it was quite painful,” Williams said to media. “Grass is inherently going to be slippery; you’re going to fall at some point. It was just bad luck for me. I started the match perfectly. I was literally killing it. And then I got killed by the grass.”
Right now, I’m kind of in shock. I can’t believe this happened. It’s bizarre. I’m still processing it at the moment,” Williams said. “This is not what I want for myself.”
“It’s always a pleasure to play against Venus,” Svitolina said, calling her a “big legend.”
“Venus plays really quick and I had to really work hard for today’s win.”
No. 1 Iga Swiattek advanced with a 6-1, 6-3 win over 6-1, 6-3 against.
