Thompson sole Australian of eight to advance to Wimbledon's second round on day one

The Age

11 hours ago

'[But I] felt pretty s---, to be honest. It's tough. I haven't practiced, I've been injured, haven't played many tournaments, and haven't played at 100 per cent this year, it feels like, so I can't say I'm enjoying it too much.'
Thompson's bleak outlook capped an unexpectedly dismal opening day at SW19, with 20th-seeded Alexei Popyrin headlining seven Australian departures, including Kim Birrell, Chris O'Connell, Olivia Gadecki, James Duckworth, qualifier Talia Gibson and Ajla Tomljanovic.
Duckworth was on upset alert when he went two-sets-to-one up on No.25 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, only to go down 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-4 to the Canadian star.
Popyrin's loss was the most shocking: 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 to 465th-ranked British wildcard Arthur Fery – the son of wealthy businessman Loic Fery, a Wimbledon club member and owner of French Ligue 1 team FC Lorient – in a result that could trigger a rankings freefall for a player with more than 1300 points still to defend this year.
The 25-year-old was coming off a career-best fourth-round appearance at Roland-Garros, but blamed his decision to effectively step straight onto a grasscourt afterwards for his underwhelming display in London.
'I have to not see a tennis court or a tennis racquet for a little bit,' Popyrin said, slumping into his chair in one of Wimbledon's tiny interview rooms.
'After today's match, I felt numb. I didn't feel sad, I didn't feel happy – I just felt numb, and that's not a feeling I've ever had before. I think that just shows that I understand this result happened because I was under-prepared and demotivated going into Wimbledon, and that's something that can't happen again.'
Thompson has rallied from two sets down to win in the first round at each of the past three Wimbledon editions – and all on court nine – with Russian Pavel Kotov and American Brandon Nakashima his previous two victims.
He was his usual combative self against Kopriva, engaging in an ongoing spat with the chair umpire over a series of lets that he felt went uncalled, including one he humorously remarked should have been heard from Wimbledon's neighbouring district Southfields.
But with Lleyton Hewitt and his new doubles partner Pierre Hugues-Herbert watching, the world No.44 – who won 53 of 79 net points – was understandably relieved to escape for a rare highlight in an injury-plagued season.
It all started with a ruptured plantar fascia in Thompson's right foot that spoiled his Australian summer and cost him almost two months after leaving Melbourne Park.
The hits kept on coming for Thompson, who also suffered a groin tear, an oblique tear, a herniated disc and most recently, pain in the sacroiliac joint in his back that otherwise would have forced him onto the sidelines.
He has already revealed he will take a multi-month break after Wimbledon to try to get his body right, and has not ruled out skipping the rest of the season to receive a protected ranking, which requires a six-month absence.
'I can't put too much pressure on myself, even though I do a lot of the times, but this year's been a disaster,' Thompson said.
'I'm just lucky to be out on the court, even though I'm probably not enjoying it as much as I would like to. I mean, we're at Wimbledon, and it's sad for me to think I'm not enjoying it as much as I usually do. I'm just praying that I can actually step back out on the court.
'[But] I think the only time I really enjoyed it was when the last point was over, and I didn't have to put my body through any more.'
Birrell barely lost a race with the injured dual finalist Ons Jabeur to be the first player to exit the grasscourt major, losing 6-0-6-4 to Croatian 22nd seed and 2024 semi-finalist Donna Vekic, while O'Connell was no match for French veteran Adrian Mannarino in a 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 defeat.
Gadecki was originally supposed to play Greet Minnen, but the Belgian withdrew with a back injury, so she instead faced lucky loser Solana Sierra, who lost in final-round qualifying to Australia's Talia Gibson.
Sierra made the most of her second chance, securing a 6-2, 7-6 (10-8) win after fighting back from an 0-3 second-set deficit.
The big-striking Gibson will have mixed emotions about her Wimbledon debut on court 18 against four-time major champion Naomi Osaka, who is four years and a child removed from her 2021 Australian Open title.
The 21-year-old West Australian went toe-to-toe from the baseline with the Japanese superstar and hit some breathtaking winners to help her go up a break early in the first set and twice serve for the second set – but the result was a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) defeat.
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More important will be the lessons Gibson learned while failing to win a single point across those two service games late in the second set, when she sent seven shots beyond the baseline and double-faulted on the other.
She matched Osaka with 18 winners apiece, but committed 41 unforced errors to Osaka's 23.
Tomljanovic was the last Aussie to bow out on Monday, fading to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 loss to fellow veteran and Eastbourne semi-finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.