We are into Day Six almost of Wimbledon winding on July 14. And what have we got thus far?
Some seeds had fallen by the wayside, with Dominic Thiem creating the loudest thud. The No. 5 ranked Austrian had bowed to Sam Querrey.
Unfortunate, if not pathetic.
Just weeks back, Thiem, 25, nearly won the French Open after outlasting No. 1 Novak Djokovic in five grueling semifinal sets.
Too bad Thiem had to face as finals foe the formidable Rafael Nadal, who simply imposed his will as King of Clay in dismantling Thiem at Roland Garros in Paris.
It was doubly heartbreaking as Thiem was also the losing finalist in the 2018 French Open final.
Then came Thiem’s shocking statement.
“...I had to take the decision to come here without any preparation,” Thiem said. “Of course, it’s very tough to face Querrey, who loves grass, to face him in the first official grass court match for me of the year.”
You are the world’s No. 5 and you come to a Slam unprepared? Baloney. My respect for Thiem has dipped—considerably.
But Querrey is no patsy even as he’s way down in the rankings.
Previous to his win over Thiem, the American had scored whopping Wimbledon upsets over Djokovic in 2016 and Andy Murray in 2017.
Before Querrey’s feat, Naomi Osaka, the two-time majors winner from Japan, became the biggest seeded casualty in women’s play, losing to unranked Yulia Putintseva, 7-6, 6-2.
Osaka, who also bowed out early in the French Open, did not attribute her early departure to nixing her coach, Sascha. Karmic?
“I was just having fun out there,” she said.
I could puke.
Other top guns departing early were future stars Stefano Tsitsipas, 20, and Alexander Zverev, 22, and Stan Wawrinka. Unknowns had ousted them. Ouch!
But it was American Cori “Coco” Gauff, at 15, the youngest in the field, who authored the biggest upset, bundling out five-time champion Venus Williams, 6-4, 6-4.
Gauff wasn’t born yet when Venus, now 39, won her three majors.
“I want to be the greatest,” said Gauff just moments after winning her first Slam match.
Reincarnating Muhammad Ali?