Updated on 06/29/2022 07:54
- From a German perspective, the second day of Wimbledon is going badly – a mother of two is the only highlight.
- In the evening, the audience then sees a drama by 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams.
Tennis superstar Serena Williams has suffered a dramatic defeat on the much-anticipated return from a year-long hiatus. The 23-time Grand Slam tournament winner lost on Tuesday evening in 3:10 hours 5: 7, 6: 1, 6: 7 (7:10) against French Harmony Tan. The 40-year-old was far from her former form in the first individual after her serious thigh injury in the same place a year ago. She was greeted with great cheering by the spectators on Center Court.
“It was a very long fight,” Williams said exhausted, recalling her injury. “But it’s definitely better than last year.” So she has to wait for the longed-for 24th success in a Grand Slam tournament, with which she would set the record of Australian Margaret Court.
Despite her routine, Williams was unable to prevent her third defeat in a Grand Slam opening game against the Wimbledon debutant. “It’s a dream of mine. I watched Serena on TV when I was young,” Tan gushed. “I was scared on the pitch but I was pretty happy in the end.”
Cheered on by sister Venus and her mother, the American lacked match practice and liveliness at the beginning. Williams had only played competitive games in doubles. The seven-time Wimbledon champion wanted to keep the rallies short and celebrated point wins with loud screams. The world number 115. Tan used stops to let Williams run.
Bitter day for German tennis professionals – except for Tatjana Maria
On a very bitter day for the German tennis pros in Wimbledon, only Tatjana Maria was able to celebrate her debut victory as a mother of two. The 34-year-old reached the second round as the only one of seven Germans who started on Tuesday. “Wimbledon is my favorite Grand Slam and it’s the first Grand Slam match I’ve won with both daughters,” enthused Maria. “It’s something special for me.” She last won a match on the lawn classic in 2018, and her daughter Cecilia was born 14 months ago.
For a German sextet around the recently corona-positive Andrea Petkovic, the sporty end came. For fellow favorite Matteo Berrettini, the tournament was over even before the first serve. With a black and white photo and sad words, last year’s finalist announced his corona infection and increased concerns about the virus at the tournament. The Italian wrote that he was “heartbroken” and was the second prominent tennis professional to announce his corona-related cancellation after former US Open champion Marin Cilic.
Berrettini after his Corona exit: “No words how extremely disappointed I am”
In view of the rapidly increasing number of positive tests in England and no restrictions for players and spectators, Corona is coming back into focus after the tournament was canceled two years ago. “I have no words to describe how extremely disappointed I am,” Berrettini wrote on Instagram. He had reached the final against Serbian Novak Djokovic in 2021 and was now one of the top favorites to win the title. Cilic had trained with the top seeded defending champion Djokovic on Center Court on Thursday. Djokovic says he is still unvaccinated.
Players and spectators alike are no longer required to provide proof of vaccination or negative tests at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. There is also a tight crowd in the professional area, especially on the first days of the tournament. “When it rains, all the players and all the guests are in the restaurant and there isn’t a lot of seating,” reported Andrea Petkovic after her first round defeat by the 4:6, 3:6 against Viktorija Golubic from Switzerland.
Wimbledon 2022: Germans are eliminated – sometimes without a chance
Also for the German Wimbledon debutants Nastasja Schunk (4: 6, 2: 6 against the Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu), Tamara Korpatsch (7: 6 (9: 7), 5: 7, 2: 6 against the Brit Heather Watson), Daniel Altmaier (3:6, 5:7, 5:7 against Mikael Ymer of Sweden) and Nicola Kuhn (3:6, 7:6 (7:1), 3:6, 2:6 against Brandon Nakashima from the USA ) came the end. As the last German on Tuesday, Dominik Koepfer lost 4: 6, 5: 7, 6: 7 (1: 7) against the Colombian Daniel Galan.
This means that a total of five German tennis professionals, led by Angelique Kerber, are in the second round and all of them are back in action on Wednesday. 22-time Grand Slam tournament winner Rafael Nadal of Spain struggled but won in four hard-fought sets against Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo.
Petkovic also spoke out in favor of returning a measure in view of his own negative corona experiences at the French Open. “If I had something to say, I would reintroduce the mask indoors,” said the 34-year-old, but also admitted: “It’s difficult because people also want to go back to normal life. It was real now hard, two years, I can understand that.”
Petkovic apparently contracted Corona in Paris
The Darmstadt native had been infected with the corona virus around a month before Wimbledon. “I’ve been really sick for three days and then five days flat, I couldn’t have played like that,” said Petkovic. She assumes that she got infected in Paris, where for the first time there was no longer a mask requirement in the cabin. She initially wore a mask for the first three days. “Then people gave me such stupid looks because I was the only one.”
At Wimbledon, too, up to 42,000 spectators crowded the facility without masks, and interviews with the professionals were conducted in narrow, windowless rooms. The number of positive tests in England had risen by more than a third to over 100,000 in seven days in the previous week. (dpa/sap)
© dpa
