Wimbledon week 1: Djokovic shines, women's seeds tumble

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  • It has been an eventful first week at SW19.

    After a first week of highs, lows and some pretty big upsets, our reporter in London Reem Abulleil looks back at the biggest headlines from the first seven days at Wimbledon.

    Player of the Week
    Novak Djokovic

    While the top-four men’s players – Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka – have all been impressive in opening week at Wimbledon, Djokovic has faced the trickiest opponents first up, taking care of Philipp Kohlschreiber (the highest-ranked non-seed in the draw) in his opener, Finnish lefty Jarkko Nieminen in the second round, and former quarter-finalist Bernard Tomic in the third. He passed all three tests without dropping a set, was broken just three times and looks in great shape.

    Upset of the week
    Jelena Jankovic over Petra Kvitova

    The odds were stacked against Jankovic. Playing on her least favourite surface against the defending champion who loves the grass, the Serb went down a set and 2-4 in the second. But Jankovic pulled off a remarkable turnaround and undid the huge-serving Kvitova at her own game to make the second week at Wimbledon for the first time in five years. Few people saw that coming!

    Under the radar
    Agnieszka Radwanska

    Radwanska’s revival on grass this season is as surprising as it is underrated. The former SW19 runner-up was having a dismal first half of 2015, which saw drop out of the top 10 and fall in the opening round of the French Open. She also parted ways with coach Martina Navratilova just three months into the season. But the crafty Pole has rebounded brilliantly on the turf, making the semis in Nottingham, final in Eastbourne and now the second week at Wimbledon where she has dropped just 12 games so far. Her last-16 with Jankovic is a must-watch.

    Performance of the week
    Dustin Brown v Rafael Nadal

    Brown’s performance against Rafael Nadal in the second round made one feel there should have been followed by confetti, fireworks and music to keep the party going. The German-Jamaican plays with incredible flair but the fact that he sustained that over a best-of-five match to take out Nadal made it all the more impressive. Sadly, the Brown show was over in the next round but like he said, no one can ever take that glorious moment on Centre Court away from him.

    Match of the week
    Garbine Muguruza v Angelique Kerber

    Sometimes opposites attract and in this case that was proven to be true. Between Muguruza’s aggressive big-hitting and Kerber’s counter-punching, this match was two and a half hours of intense battle. With 57 winners from the 20th-seeded Muguruza and 33 from the 10th-seeded Kerber, it was certainly a third round to remember, with very little separating the two warriors. Somehow, Kerber lost the match having won five more points than her opponent.

    Shot of the week
    Brown’s boomerang

    Yes, we had a Roger Federer ‘tweener’ lob in the second round against Sam Querrey but Brown’s boomerang drop shot return against Viktori Troicki tops the lot. The German responded to a Troicki serve by hitting a backhand drop shot that bounced once on Troicki’s side and went back over the net into his own half. Not only was it skillfully executed, it was also utterly outrageous.

    Questionable trend
    The sleeve

    It was barely tolerable when Milos Raonic was doing it, but to have a match with TWO players wearing a shooter’s sleeve is more than unfortunate. Could this really become a thing? We will be scouring the juniors matches this week to find out.

    Suspicious withdrawal
    Jaziri and Garcia Lopez

    After upsetting the Australian Open doubles champions Fabio Fognini and Marcel Granollers, Tunisian-Spanish pair Malek Jaziri and Guillermo Garcia Lopez pulled out of their doubles second round with Garcia Lopez citing an ankle injury. The suspicious part? Their third round opponents would have been Israeli player Jonathan Erlich and Germany’s Philipp Petzschner. Jaziri has pulled out twice in the past before facing an Israeli player. While the Tunisian insists he was upset that his partner had to pull out with an injury, questions have understandably been raised.

    Talking points

    Women’s fallen seeds

    Seeds No 3 (Halep), 7 (Ivanovic), 9 (Suarez Navarro), 11 (Ka Pliskova) 12 (Bouchard), 24 (Pennetta), 27 (Strycova) and 32 (Garcia) all crashed out in the first two rounds. Second-seeded Kvitova followed a round later. One word: ouch!

    Curious case of Kyrgios

    Racquets hurling towards the ground, umpire bullying, foul language… those are many of Nick Kyrgios’ shortcomings so far this tournament. But he’s also winning and doing it in remarkable fashion. His irritability with some members of the media in pressers is the one thing he should probably ditch. All the rest, he can be punished for on court by the umpire and should be left at that.

    Karlovic’s double-hit

    Ivo Karlovic avoided losing the fourth set tiebreak to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga with a volley that replays showed was clearly a double-hit. The Croat moved on to the fourth round soon after and said that yes it was a double hit but that it was one motion so it was legal, only looking bad because of slow motion replays. Do we agree? More importantly, does Tsonga?

    Where does Rafa go from here?

    After a fourth successive early Wimbledon exit, Rafael Nadal faces lots of scrutiny. How he bounces back from this season is yet to be determined. But if he does it well, it could be his greatest achievement to date. 

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