Wimbledon Week One: 10 Things You May Have Missed

WIMBLEDON, England—As has been the case in the past at Wimbledon, Rafael Nadal made headlines in the first week when he was upset by a player ranked outside the Top 100. Serena Williams almost joined him on the sidelines, two points away from defeat before overcoming Heather Watson.

But if those two occurrences led the way in talking points at SW19, there were other interesting things you may have missed from week one. Here are 10 of them, led by a man who has done fairly well at Wimbledon.

You’ve all seen Roger Federer’s tweener by now, I’m sure.

And let the debate begin: Which one was better, the one he hit against Sam Querrey on Thursday, or the one he engineered against Novak Djokovic at the 2009 U.S. Open?

They were, of course, very different. Federer’s version this week faced the net and was a lob. Versus Djokovic, he had his back to the net and lashed a passing shot past the stranded Serb.

Let’s let Federer explain this year’s hot dog, which took place when leading by a set and 4-2 in the second.

“What the situation was, I had the grip in hand,” said Federer. “It was an open grip, one for a slice I would think or one you scoop it.

“But then I was like, I feel better almost shuffling my feet and giving myself, with the right grip, without changing that anymore, to hitting a lob. Easiest way for me was somehow through the legs rather than coming to a complete standstill and then hitting a lob, which he would have seen where it was going to go. Through the legs, you're not sure if it's going to come short or high. I got lucky. I hit it perfect.”

Yes, you did, Roger. And it won’t be the last time.

Speaking of Djokovic, his nation faces Argentina in the Davis Cup quarterfinals the weekend after Wimbledon. It could still be a blockbuster, but the absence of Juan Martin del Potro diminishes the star power.

Will the top Serb be there? The longer Nole goes at Wimbledon, one would think the lesser his chances—especially since the tie is in South America and on a different surface, clay.

Thus, it’s no surprise to hear Djokovic say he’s not sure yet if he’ll participate.

“I will see when I am done with this tournament how I feel,” said Djokovic.

No one should begrudge Djokovic if he does opt out, given his past history in Davis Cup.

Beating Nadal at the All England Club turned Dustin Brown, Lukas Rosol, Steve Darcis and Nick Kyrgios into household names. Kyrgios, you’ll know by now, has had no problems staying in the news.

But when Brown lost to Viktor Troicki in the third round Saturday, it continued this trend: After defeating Rafa at Wimbledon, the quartet all exited in their next encounter.

Rosol fell to Philipp Kohlschreiber, Darcis handed a walkover to Lukasz Kubot and Kyrgios lost to Milos Raonic.

Kyrgios, like Brown, won a set in his next—and last—match.

Having outlasted Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set at Wimbledon five years ago, John Isner has been labeled a marathon man more times than he delivered aces that day (113, to be exact). His tussle with Marin Cilic in the third round, which he lost 12-10 in the fifth, enhances the description.

But he’s not known for contesting long rallies, especially on grass. Yet Isner was tied for 10th when it came to the longest rallies of the first week. In one, Isner and Go Soeda embarked on a 25-shot exchange, with the Japanese prevailing.

It’s hardly a surprise that Gilles Simon led the way atop the leaderboard. He and Gael Monfils extended to 34 shots Saturday, and Simon also came in at No. 2 after the Frenchman and Nicolas Almagro battled it out for 33 shots.

This is, of course, relatively speaking. When Liam Broady and James Ward came through their first-round matches, it doubled the tally of British men’s wild card winners at Wimbledon from the previous five seasons. Ward, the same player who downed Isner in the Davis Cup in March, accounted for the victory in 2012 by beating Pablo Andujar.

From an obvious low in 2012, Andujar, a workmanlike Spaniard, authored two upsets in the first week, ousting Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Rosol.

The last time at least two British men’s wild cards at Wimbledon made the second round was in 2006, when Jamie Delgado, Richard Bloomfield and Martin Lee achieved the feat.

Being a world away from home, it’s hardly a shock that a trio of young Aussies—Thanasi Kokkinakis, Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic—were all feeling a bit homesick, of sorts.

Kyrgios said he was suffering from a sinus infection, while Tomic claimed he felt dizzy on Wednesday, when the highest ever temperature was recorded at Wimbledon—rising to nearly 97 degrees Fahrenheit.

But Kokkinakis had it the worst. Feeling the after-effects of what he thought was food poisoning, he vomited in his mouth and had little in the tank against Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer.

“It’s just disappointing,” said Kokkinakis, who has quietly had a solid season. “Big tournament, and you are trying to play as well as you can, but you’re not quite with it.”

Tennis Australia might be feeling sick, too, after Tomic’s tirade Friday.

Three years after their miraculous title run at Wimbledon, Jonathan Marray and Frederik Nielsen were reunited, and no one will be taking them lightly. As wild cards, they reached the third round after upsetting Juan-Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in four sets on Saturday.

The pair stunned the field as wild cards in 2012, going the distance—and don’t forget, at Wimbledon that means five sets in doubles contests—in four of their six matches. They stunned the Bryan brothers in the semifinals and inflicted more Wimbledon heartache on Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau in the finale.

It was Nielsen’s decision to cut tie because the Dane wanted to focus on singles. The move hasn’t paid off in terms of his ranking: 305th when Wimbledon began in 2012, he currently sits at 269th.

Jarkko Nieminen is close to completing a calendar-year Grand Slam: At the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon in this, his final year on the tour, the 33-year-old Finn has played on center court at least once.

In Melbourne it came against Stan Wawrinka in the third round; he faced Novak Djokovic in the first round at the French Open; the lefty met Djokovic again at Wimbledon in the second round.

The likable Nieminen was applauded off court by longtime pal Djokovic at the All England Club, a nice touch.

“Even though I would like to meet top guys a little later in the draw, at the same time it has been amazing that during this last season of mine, my last matches in all three Grand Slams so far have been in the biggest stadiums,” Nieminen said on his great Web site. “That’s pretty cool.”

Are you taking note, USTA?

All the major sports in the world have coaching in their games—football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, you name it. But even though tennis is an individual sport, Caroline Wozniacki thinks the on-court coaching allowed during changeovers at WTA events should extend to the Grand Slams.

“In the end of the day it’s only going to help to (raise) the standard of play,” said Wozniacki. “I don’t see a reason why it shouldn’t be allowed.

“I think what the crowd wants, what everyone wants, is to have the highest level possible out there.”

Who would make that decision? The Grand Slam board.

Andrea Petkovic isn’t American, but she has connections to Charleston, South Carolina. Petkovic won the title in Charleston in 2014 and her dad, Zoran, played tennis at the University of South Carolina. Petkovic actually played Charleston native Shelby Rogers in the first round.

Asked for her thoughts on the Charleston tragedy—when a gunman killed nine members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church—here’s part of what the German said.

“I felt very connected to everything that happened there,” Petkovic told reporters. “I (played) Shelby in the first round, just reminded me of everything. It’s definitely been an issue in our family and we talked about it. My dad was very shocked about what happened.

“With everything in life, beauty and ugliness lies so close to each other, and love and hate lie very close to each other, and Charleston is such a beautiful place. Sometimes the ugliest things happen in the most beautiful places.”

Rogers, who lost 6-0 6-0 to Petkovic, told espnW: “All I can do is send up my prayers and watch my city continue to be strong.”

Ravi Ubha (@RaviUbha) is a freelance journalist and broadcaster who has written for ESPN, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.