Shocking number of retirements pile up at Wimbledon

Copyright All England Club

Before Day 3 even began, seven men and one woman retired in their openers at Wimbledon, with the men’s mark tying a record at the tournament for first-round retirements. Only five of the seven men’s matches went past a second set, with two players shaking hands during or after their first set.

But what caused a stir was that two of the retirements came on Centre Court, where Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer advanced past Martin Klizan and Alexandr Dolgopolov, respectively, in a combined 83 minutes. That is a shorter period than it took the match before it in which world No. 1 Angelique Kerber needed 87 minutes to get through her opener against American Irina Falconi.

“A player should not go on court if he knows he should not finish,” Federer said. “The question is, did they truly believe they were going to finish? If they did, I think it’s okay that they walk on court. Otherwise, I feel they should give up the spot.”

While some of the men who retired came in with pre-existing injuries, 16-year-old qualifier Anastasia Potapova suffered a terrible fall mid-match.

Both Federer and Djokovic joked about the situation in their press conferences, mentioning the not-so-serious possibility that they considered going back out to Centre Court to play a practice set for the disappointed fans.

While it is tough to tell whether players know that their body is truly unfit to compete, those who withdraw before stepping on the court for the first round do not receive that prize money.

Some believe that the rule should change to encourage competitors to prioritize their bodies and withdraw, while still receiving prize money. Doing so would then allow lucky losers who are itching to play into the draw. First-round losers at Wimbledon received £35,000.

The quickest retiree in the opening round, former world No. Janko Tipsarevic, stopped his match while down 0-5 to American Jared Donaldson. He said that Wimbledon doctors gave him the go-ahead to compete. It was the eighth time that the Serbian has retired from a Grand Slam match, and the fourth time it has happened in the first round.

“Knock on wood I’ve earned enough money that my life doesn’t depend on this check, so in my situation no. It would have been unfair if the doctor says you have a tear and then I just went on the court to take the first-round prize money, which is really, really for someone else,” Tipsarevic said. “If a guy is all his life is playing Challengers and suddenly has a chance to play Wimbledon main draw, where the first-round loss is £35,000, I don’t think anybody has the right to judge him.”

To be fair, not every player who has retired was injured before the match. No. 19-seeded Feliciano Lopez was a dark horse to make a run into the second week before stopping during the fourth set against Adrian Mannarino with a foot injury, down two sets to one.

At the French Open last month, only one first-round men's match ended with a retirement, but five more piled up by fortnight's end. That stat calls into question more the brutal pro tour schedule, than the morality of playing a match already injured.

No matter what the ITF does, it has to make a change—multiple retirements in the opening round of a Slam is not good for anyone involved.

Follow Andrew on Twitter: @andrewikesports

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