Day 1 of this years Wimbledon Championships is complete but the rain has already caused some havoc as many men’s matches were suspended and will have to be finished on day 2. Grass is one of the most unpredictable surfaces as there is limited preparation and with it being quick and the bounce being unpredictable it can be a tricky surface to get a hold of. This makes it tricky to predict who will come out on top by the end of the 2 weeks of Wimbledon which is just what we want in the fantasy league.

Day 1 was not as shocking as the French Open was but there were still some big upsets which occurred. I will start with the men’s draw and the big upset of the day was the 11th seed, Auger-Aliassime, losing to Mmoh from America in 4 tight sets. Auger-Aliassime showing that he is still struggling to perform on the biggest stage as he made it 2 first round exits in the last 2 grand slams he has played. The 24th seed, Nishioka, was the only other seed to fall on day 1 of this years Wimbledon Championships after the Japanese player lost in straight sets to Galan. Musetti, Rublev, Djokovic, Wawrinka, Hurkacz, Wolf, Schwartzman and Sinner all made it through their first round matches in straight sets. The 4th seed, Ruud, who played no tournaments leading up to Wimbledon struggled a bit as he needed 4 sets to defeat the qualifier from France, Lokoli. Thompson came back from 2 sets down against Nakashima to book his spot in the 2nd round where he will face Djokovic. Isner lost to Munar in 4 sets. The big serving American not able to repeat his previous feats here at Wimbledon. Bublik played well to beat a tricky opponent in McDonald. Bublik looking to continue his good form on grass after he won the Halle title just 2 weeks ago. His next opponent is Wolf who can be a tricky opponent on his day. Fritz was up against an inform Hanfmann and the match had headed to a 5th set before play was suspended. They will be coming out 3-2 Fritz leading in the final set. Zapata Miralles was 2 sets to 1 up against 29th seed, Etcheverry, before play was suspended. Home favourite and 24th seed, Dan Evans, was struggling as he found himself 2 sets to love down and may be thankful that play was suspended as he tries to find a way back into the match. Shapovalov and Coric were both in the 2nd set and both had lost the 1st set so all matches suspended could see some big names fall as these matches resume on day 2 of the Wimbledon Championships.

Onto the ladies draw on day 1 and the rain did not impact them as much as it impacted the men as there was only 1 match which was suspended. This match was between Collins and Grabher and Collins was leading that one, 6-4. The big upset of the day was the 7th seed, Gauff. Gauff was up against former grand slam winner and quailfier, Kenin. This match was definitely a match to watch on day 1 and rightly so as Kenin took the 3rd set 6-2 to knock out the 7th seed. Could we see another deep run in a grand slam from Kenin? Another seed which fell was the 15th seed, Samsonova who lost in straight sets to Bogdan. 24th seed, Zheng, also lost in her first round match against the winner of Bad Homburg, Siniakova. 4th seed, Pegula struggled in her first round match as she needed 3 sets to beat unseeded American, Davis. 19th seed, Azarenka also needed 3 sets to beat her opponent Yuan in her first round match. 30th seed, Martic was having a tight match against Fruhvirtova before Fruhvirtova had to retire midway through the final set sending a relieved Martic through to the 2nd round. Kudermetova, Parks, Swiatek, Garcia, Linette, Vondrousova, Burrage, Kasatkina, Bencic, Mertens, Svitolina and Bouzkova all came through their first round matches in straight sets.

Picks which lost on day 1:
Men: Altmaier, Auger-Aliassime, Kecmanovic, Isner, Baez
Ladies: Gauff, Williams, Zheng, Zhu Lin, Trevisan

Onto the fantasy leaderboard and our first leader is ‘Green Beans’ on 29 points after day 1. ‘Lucky Loser 1’ sits in 2nd on 24 points so just 5 points away from our leader. ‘Eish’ and ‘Calf Cramps’ sit in a joint 3rd with 23 points while ‘Sliders’ and ‘Double Bounce’ sit in a joint 5th position on 22 points. Our wooden spoon leader is ‘Tennis Turtles’ who only managed 4 points on day 1 of the championships.

Still a long way to go however and with many matches not played or not completed on day 1 there are lots of changes to leaderboard to be had.

Matches to watch on Day 2:

• Thiem vs Tsitsipas(5) (12:00)
• Shelton(32) vs Daniel (12:00)
• Fucsovics vs Griekspoor(28) (12:00)
• Berrettini vs Sonego (12:00)
• Harris vs Barrere (13:30)
• Alcaraz(1) vs Chardy (14:00)
• Cressy vs Djere (14:10)
• Vesely vs Korda(22) (14:25)
• Lehecka vs Ofner (14:45)
• Eubanks vs Monteiro (15:25)
• Peniston vs Murray (15:45)
• Zhang vs van de Zandschulp (16:10)
• Stricker vs Popyrin (16:30)
• Cecchinato vs Jarry(25) (16:30)
• Ivashka vs Coria (16:30)
• Davidovich Fokina(31) vs Fils (16:45)
• Tiafoe(10) vs Wu (17:10)
• Norrie(12) vs Machac (17:15)

• Boulter vs Gavrilova (12:00)
• Zhang vs Vekic(20) (13:30)
• Sakkari(8) vs Kostyuk (13:55)
• Cirstea vs Maria (14:00)
• Stephens vs Peterson (14:00)
• Rogers vs Rybakina(3) (14:30)
• Golubic vs Schmiedlova (15:15)
• Watson vs Krejcikova(10) (15:15)
• Jabeur(6) vs Frech (16:00)
• Minnen vs Ostapenko(17) (16:40)
• Muchova(16) vs Niemeier (17:15)
• Haddad Maia(13) vs Putintseva (18:30)
• Andreeva vs Wang (18:30)

Jared

Jared matriculated in 2020 from Wynberg Boys High School in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. His passion for tennis afforded him the opportunity of travelling to Europe. He is a quizmaster and a tennis fantasy league organiser.http://Eishonline.co.za/jftl