You know that Wimbledon is upon you when top seeds begin to fall like flies right from the off.
That has been exactly the case at this summer’s Championships, which commenced on Monday as temperatures skyrocketed to a record 32.3 degrees at the All England Club - the hottest opening day of all time.
In the men’s draw, day one saw five seeded casualties, with two in the top ten.
Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion and former world no1, was beaten in a four-set thriller by the unseeded Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi on Court No2, with Bonzi coming through 7-6(2) 3-6 7-6(3) 6-2 against his irritated Russian opponent.
Holger Rune, the eighth seed, also bowed out, as he was caught up in a marathon five-setter against the big-serving qualifier Nicolas Jarry, who came back in stunning fashion from two sets down to win 4-6 4-6 7-5 6-3 6-4 on Court No3.
24th seed and two-time major finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas was forced to concede defeat against the unheralded French player Valentin Royer, forfeiting his match at 6-3 6-2 down on Court 12.
The theme continued on day two, with Italian Lorenzo Musetti, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon last year, falling in the first round.
The seventh seed took on qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili and was beaten 6-2 4-6 7-5 6-1, in what was his first match since retiring from his French Open semi-final against Carlos Alcaraz.
The biggest shock in the women’s draw so far came early on Tuesday, as third seed Jessica Pegula crashed out on Court 2.
The American arrived at Wimbledon in fine form, beating Iga Swiatek in the final of the Bad Homburg Open just three days ago, but she was flat throughout against Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
Pegula did not have a single break point in the match and hit only five winners to go with 24 unforced errors. Cocciaretto took full advantage of that ragged display as the world number 116 earned a 6-2 6-3 victory in just 59 minutes.
Pegula was soon followed out the exit door by fifth seed Qinwen Zheng, who fell at the first hurdle at Wimbledon for the third year in a row.
Zheng beat Emma Raducanu at Queen’s last month but struggled here, as doubles specialist Katerina Siniakova beat here 7-5 4-6 6-1.
The Britons delivered on day one, with a win on debut for wildcard Oliver Tarvet, who overcame Leandro Riedi, the Swiss player who was as recently as last year the world no117.
Arthur Fery served up a scintillating showing against the 20th seed Alexei Popyrin to dump the Australian out at the first hurdle on Court 15, before his compatriot Billy Harris beat his higher-ranked opponent Dusan Lajovic, who has ten top-10 victories to his name.
On Tuesday, the 28th seed on the men’s draw, Alexander Bublik, was defeated in five sets by the Spanish player Jaume Munar. Kazakhstan’s Bublik had been seen as a dangerous player who might have spelt trouble for the British No4 seed Jack Draper, who he was in line to meet in the third round.
The 2023 Eastbourne champion Francisco Cerundolo, the 16th seed, was beaten in four sets by Nuno Borges.
On Monday, Sonay Kartal started the British rampage early in the day by stunning the former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, the 20th seed, on Court No2, digging deep to win 7-5 2-6 6-2 in sticky conditions.
Viktoriya Tomova was the surprising victor against the two-time Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur, whose injury problems have ravaged her last couple of years.
Classed as tennis’ most prestigious Grand Slam, the grass-court major is the one that every player dreams of winning as a child, as the sport’s elite converge on south-west London to try and get their hands on the coveted men’s trophy and women’s plate.
The Championships has a history of throwing up some stunning results.
Rafael Nadal, the two-time champion, was upset by Lukas Rosol, the world no100 in the second round in 2012, and then by world no135 Steve Darcis in his 2013 opener, with the Belgian handing the Spaniard a maiden first-round defeat at a Grand Slam.
That same year, Sergiy Stakhovsky produced a serve-and-volley masterclass to beat defending champion Roger Federer, while in 2014 and 2015, Nick Kyrgios and Dustin Brown played out of their skin to dump Nadal out in the fourth round and second round respectively.
On the women’s side, Serena Williams was on the end of two upsets when she was beaten by Sabine Lisicki and Alize Cornet in 2013 and 2014.
Perhaps the biggest shock in Wimbledon history came in 1994, when unseeded Lori McNeil became the first player in the Open Era to defeat a defending major champion in the opening round, as she beat the great Steffi Graf in straight sets. At that time, the German had won three consecutive titles at the All England Club.
This year, it’s been much of the same, with plenty of top seeds melting in the heat.
