Zverev joins lengthening list of top men's seeds to exit
World number three Alexander Zverev was dumped on the Wimbledon seeds scrapheap after losing a two-day, five-set marathon to Arthur Rinderknech. The German, a three-time Grand Slam finalist, was beaten 7-6 (3) 6-7 (8) 6-3 6-7 (5) 6-4 by Frenchman Rinderknech in a match carried over from Monday evening.
In fact it was so long - at four hours and 40 minutes - that it actually started in June and finished in July.
Zverev is the fourth top-10 player to crash out in the first round at this year's Championships - and the highest-ranked - joining Lorenzo Musetti, Holger Rune, and Daniil Medvedev through the exit door. Rinderknech, the world number 72, was previously best known for having to retire from a match he was winning at last year's French Open because he injured his foot kicking an advertising hoarding.
The 29-year-old said: 'I don't even know where to start. My legs are still shaking. I can't do this anymore. We started yesterday at 8 pm, finish now at 7. What a moment, such emotions.'
Italian seventh seed Musetti was knocked out by Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia.
A 6-2 4-6 7-5 6-1 defeat was not a major surprise, however, as Musetti has been recovering from a thigh injury since Roland Garros and was forced to withdraw from Queen's last month.
There were no such problems for world number one Jannik Sinner, who announced himself at this year's Wimbledon with a statement win over fellow Italian Luca Nardi. The 23-year-old dropped only seven games in a comprehensive 6-4 6-3 6-0 victory in an hour and 48 minutes. Sinner slammed down nine aces among 28 winners and lost only 12 points behind his own serve.
The three-time grand slam winner has only reached the semi-finals here once, in 2023, but all roads seem to be leading to a showdown with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz a week on Sunday in a repeat of their epic five-set French Open final, won by the Spaniard, last month. While Alcaraz toiled to a five-set, four-and-a-half-hour win over 38-year-old Fabio Fognini on Monday, Sinner was not hanging around as he raced into round two, where he will meet Australian Aleksandar Vukic. 'New tournament, new chances, new challenges,' he said. 'You have one opponent at a time so obviously I try to keep going and enjoy playing here.'
Fifth seed Taylor Fritz completed his comeback from two sets down to oust big-serving Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in five. Fritz was frustrated on Monday night when officials opted not to finish the match because, at 10:15 pm, it was deemed too close to the 11 pm curfew imposed by the local council. The US player returned on Tuesday afternoon to win the one-set shoot-out 6-4.
Alexander Bublik, the tricky 28th seed from Kazakhstan who was a potential third-round opponent for Britain's Jack Draper, was beaten in five sets by Spain's Jaume Munar. (PA Media/DPA)
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