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Wednesday, June 29, 2022

W.3- Jule und Anett


In London on Day 3, it was a two-sided tale of opposing fates.




One look at 22-year old Jule Niemeier and you'd likely guess that power is her game (and that she might win a few lockerroom armwrestling competitions). She has good reason for that confident-looking gait we see from her on the court, too.

The German's big serve and forehand were on display today against #2-seeded Anett Kontaveit, as after nearly upsetting Sloane Stephens in the 1st Round of Roland Garros last month (she led 7-5/4-4, only to ultimately see an injury make her uncompetitive in the 3rd set), Niemeier found herself facing off with a Top 10 player for the first time in her career.

Ranked #97, the German stood at 0-4 vs. Top 20 foes to date, but her rise to becoming the youngest from her nation ranked in the WTA's Top 150 has been noteworthy over the past year. Last season, after having come through some injury issues earlier in her career, Niemeier made a splash on clay, reaching semis in Strasbourg as a qualifier in the spring and then in Hamburg as a wild card in the summer. In 2022, she's cracked the Top 100 for the first time, qualified to make her slam debut (at RG), and won $60K and WTA 125 challenger titles (the latter a week after falling to Stephens).

With her big game, Niemeier was always set to be a clear and present danger in the path of her opponent, who despite her high seed arrived at SW19 with more than a few questions trailing behind her.

Kontaveit being a particularly "soft" #2 seed at this Wimbledon was the thought from the start, and it didn't take long for the dastardly reality of the notion to take hold. Last season, the Estonian finally put things together -- well, almost exclusively on indoor hard court events, but still -- and showed that the flashes of all-surface ability she'd shown over the years weren't mere mirages tricking the mind into thinking that she was one of the more underachieving talents on the women's tour.

After a few bright spots earlier in the season, Kontaveit took off on summer/fall hard courts once she brought aboard Dmitry Tursunov (ex-coach, most recently, of Aryna Sabalenka). The ardent baseliner suddenly infused more aggression into her game, and the result was astounding. Kontaveit ended '21 with one the greatest end-of-season flourishes ever. Going on a 29-4 tear over the closing months, she rose from #30 the week before the U.S. Open to a season-ending #7, winning four titles (3 indoors) while finishing off a seven-final campaign with a trip the WTA Finals championship match.

Whether coming even close to sustaining such a high level was in the cards for Kontaveit in '22 was one of the more intriguing preseason questions. Though with a few hiccups, she seemed to be answering that question early on. She failed to convert 7 MP vs. Barbora Krejcikova in the Sydney SF, then lost to Clara Tauson in the 2nd Round of the Australian Open, but she rebounded by (naturally) winning indoors in Saint Petersburg with a string of wins over the likes of Teichmann, Cirstea, Bencic, Ostapenko and Sakkari, then reached the (outdoor!) Doha final with victories over Jabeuer and (again) Ostapenko. In the final against Iga Swiatek, though, she recorded just two games. Things haven't been the same since.

Today's incredibly disappointing effort in her match against Niemeier, quiet honestly, simply feels like a natural progression for the Estonian.

The German took an early break lead on Kontaveit in the opening set, holding her edge throughout, Serving at 5-4, Niemeier calmly got the hold to put away the 1st with a forehand winner into the corner. She dropped just six points on serve in six service games, winning 80% of her first serves (12/15) and 8/11 on the second.

Niemeier broke to open the 2nd, while Kontaveit quickly began to unravel. The Estonian's back-to-back DF had ended game #1. Niemeier planted a backhand into the corner to consolidate her break, then essentially watched Kontaveit become a passive baseline spectator down the stretch as the current world #3 never really tried to force the issue and find a way out of the deepening hole by changing tactics or putting pressure on the young German. Kontaveit fell behind 15/40 in game #3, then DF'd again to give Niemeier a double-break lead. Niemeier finished things off quickly from there, taking the 2nd at love and winning 6-4/6-0 in 58 minutes, never facing a BP all day hour.



After starting the season 13-2, with today's loss, Kontaveit has gone just 4-7 since reaching the Doha final against the (pre-#1 ranking) Iga. Granted, she contracted Covid in the spring and is likely suffering from lingering issues related to that, but her dip started earlier (1-3 pre-) Stuttgart, where she said she'd gotten the virus. Since then Kontaveit has parted ways with Tursunov (replaced by Torben Beltz) for what she says were visa issues regarding him traveling as a Russian citizen. After previously being 1-6 in career finals (w/ 1 DNP) pre-Tursurnov, Kontaveit was 5-2 in finals with him. The lack of the sort of more aggressive play that highlighted her run over the back-third of '21 was clearly in evidence today, as the Estonian's passivity only made Niemeier's work that much easier.



Kontaveit's 2nd Round loss today is added to her previous 2nd (AO) and 1st Round (RG) exits in majors this season following that career year in '21. Since her maiden (and still only) slam QF in Melbourne in 2020, she's reached the second week of just one slam ('20 US) in nine tries.

It'll be interesting to watch Kontaveit the rest of the year, especially as the summer turns to fall and all those indoor title points come up to be defended. The Tennis Gods love to course correct, and things could get ugly if they have a yen to be vindictive.

As for Niemeier, there's ample room in her section of the draw (where no seeds remain) for a big surprise to come through to the QF. Maybe the surprise will be looking back at her in the mirror in the morning.





=DAY 3 NOTES=
...nine years ago on Day 3 of Wimbledon, a dark entity had Its way with the competitors at the All-England Club. Ever since then, this space has commemorated that day by adding to the list all the new victims of Its lingering malevolence.



The 2022 "evidence list" of continued activity by the being "affectionately" known as The Rad includes:

* - rain delayed the start of play (The Rad was having an extra scone for breakfast, I suspect)

* - exits on the women's side included the #2 seed (Kontaveit), a former Wimbledon champion (a crying #9-seeded Garbine Muguruza), the great British hope (#10-seeded U.S. Open champ Emma Raducanu) and two additional seeds (#26 Sorana Cirstea and #29 Anhelina Kalinina). Another (#24 Elise Mertens) saved 2 MP and escaped the guillotine (for now).

* - the men's competition saw the defeats of #3 seed and RG finalist (Casper Ruud), and former singles (Andy Murray) and boys' (#15 Reilly Opelka) champions. Another seed (#31 Sebastian Baez) also exited.

* - meanwhile, a young Pole (Maja Chwalinska) slipped and fell in the backcourt in a fashion very reminscent of the sort of spills that occurred on that fateful June 26 back in 2013. After Chwalinska fell, she never won another game in the match.



...as Day 3 arrived, the promise that the 1st Round would finally be finished was sure to be fulfilled. While that was good news for #6 Karolina Pliskova ('21 Wimbledon RU), who came out and thrashed countrywoman Tereza Martincova in the only two games that were necessary to conclude the 2nd set that was tied at 5-5 when play was stopped on Tuesday, it most definitely was *not* good for #9 Garbine Muguruza. Not at all.

First off, congrats to Waffle Greet Minnen on completing her first Wimbledon MD win, and advancing to the 2nd Round at a major for the third time in her career.



Now for the rest. And it's not good.

Of course, that's become the theme of Muguruza's so-far "lost" season. After completing what was in many aspects the *best* season-long campaign of her career in 2021, '22 has been pretty much a disaster for the Spaniard. Last year, she climbed back into the Top 10 and finished at #3, her third career Top 3 season-ending ranking but first since '17 after having worked her way back after nearly dropping out of the Top 40 in '19 at the end of a long coaching stretch with Sam Sumyk that had seen her rise to great heights but often crash-land in a series of blown matches and on-court crying breakdowns (when she wasn't arguing with Sumyk during changeovers, that is).

It's this dual nature of the Spaniard that is why "to Mugu" is a phrase that alternately can mean, optimally, "soaring to great success on the tennis court with the future looking as bright as the sun" as well as, at other more unfortunate times, meaning to "appear to sleepwalk through matches and crash out of tournaments in the opening days with all hope seemingly lost for the future." It's the WTA version of "aloha," I guess, with Muguruza being the "Goodbye/Hello Girl" of the tour.

In 2021, Muguruza finally seemed to have "figured it out" after years of careening results that routinely hit tremendous peaks that were followed by lowly valleys, and vice versa. She won three titles (her most in a season ever), reached five finals (the most ever), posted seven Top 10 wins (her most since '17) and ended her season by winning the WTA Finals.

One might have thought it would have been all served as a catapult into '22, but Muguruza has instead imploded on the launch pad and gotten off to her *worst* start ever. After dropping the 1st set yesterday to Minnen, Muguruza came out on this new day and simply couldn't put a ball inside the lines. She lost the 2nd set at love in just 19 minutes, scoring just seven points and crying as she prepared to serve to stay in the match down 5-0.



The loss is Muguruza's fifth one-and-done in twelve tournaments this year. She has just one multi-win event (Doha), and has only 8 wins (in 20 matches) six months into this season. Her 1-3 nadir in the first three slams of '22 are the worst three-major run in her entire career. This is just her second 1st Round exit at SW19 since the Spaniard reached the final in 2015 (she was the women's champ in '17).



At this point, one has to wonder about the ability of coach Conchita Martinez (the '21 WTA Coach of the Year, though she maybe *should* have won it in '20 when she helped foster the start of her countrywoman and former Fed Cup charge's turnaround) to pull Muguruza out of her current tailspin. We've seen this before from the two-time slam winner (def. *both* Williams sisters in finals), four-time major finalist at three different slams and former #1, who despite all her success has a tendency to fall into deeper holes of confidence than any player in the game with anything even remotely *close* to her list of career accomplishments. Sumyk tried the "tough love" approach (that morphed into outright public confrontations at times), while Martinez has taken a more "motherly/sisterly" tact. Both got big results from Muguruza, but now both have seen the lessons and success eventually devolve into cover-your-eyes "Mugu-ing" like today, and what's happened with the Spaniard for most of this year.

Ultimately, this rests on Muguruza's broad shoulders, and it's what is positioned both between and just below them that will pull her out of it. Or not, it's on her to find a way to put out the fire.

I think she'll get it done... at some point, for some period of time, at least. But does SHE believe?

...meanwhile, the good news for the *Brits* was that Harriet Dart breezed through her 1st Round match against Rebeka Masarova, meaning four women representing the home nation reached the 2nd Round. In the first 2nd Rounder featuring a British woman, though, #10 Emma Raducanu wasn't so fortunate.



Caroline Garcia didn't make things easy for herself in her opening SW19 match, having to go to a 3rd set TB to dispatch British wild card Lily Miyazaki in her slam debut. But the Pastry had only just arrived from Germany after having won the Bad Homburg title on Sunday. Today one expected we'd get a more accurate showing of whether or not the form that Garcia showed last week might carry over to Wimbledon. Newsflash: it has.

Garcia quickly took a break lead in the 1st over Raducanu and claimed the set at 6-3. The pair traded breaks in the middle of the 2nd, with Garcia twice grabbing the advantage. With Raducanu needing to hold to stay in the match at 5-3, Garcia got the match-closing break to win 6-3/6-3 win, her seventh straight grass court victory (the only active women w/ more grass titles than Caro's three are named Williams, Williams and Kvitova). Garcia reached the Round of 16 at SW19 in '17, but came into this slam having not won a match at Wimbledon since then (losing four straight).

Afterward, Raducanu continued to show more maturity in her answers (at least on the surface, as this latest one could surely fly back rather rudely into her face come late summer) than what we usually see in many of the reactions to her results since the U.S. Open. He winning in New York was, let's be honest, nearly an absurdity. She's got almost two full seasons (i.e. the end of '23, plus a couple more majors) of mulligans before one can really take her results *seriously* and read *anything* into what they tell you about whether she'll end up having the sort of career one expects from a grand slam champion.



Later, Diane Parry, three weeks after reaching the Round of 16 in Paris, defeated Mai Hontama today to join fellow Pastry Garcia in the 3rd Round in London.

...elsewhere, two German veterans advanced. Tatjana Maria overcame a multi-set surge from #26 Sorana Cirstea, who after dropping the 1st set took the 2nd 6-1 and made it nine of ten games by leading 3-0 in the 3rd. Maria got things back on serve late, then broke the Romanian in the final game to avoid a 10-point TB to decide her fate, winning 6-3/1-6/7-5. She advances to the Wimbledon 3rd Round for the first time since 2015. It's just her second 3rd Round result in 35 career MD appearances in slams stretching back to 2007.

Meanwhile, former Wimbledon champ (and '21 semifinalist) Angelique Kerber took out Magda Linette (handing the Poles their first MD loss at SW19) 6-3/6-3, improving to 38-12 in her Wimbledon career.



Linette was joined on the sidelines by her mighty-mite countrywoman Maja Chwalinska, who'd qualified to reach her maiden slam MD and posted a 1st Round win over Katerina Siniakova. The 20-year old Pole (who actually looks like a junior, and maybe in the 14 or 16-and-under bracket) flummoxed #28 Alison Riske (or maybe it's *officially* Riske-Amritraj now?) for more than a set, taking a 6-3 and 1-0 break lead in the 2nd over the former Wimbledon quarterfinalist and recent Nottingham finalist.



In game #2 of the 2nd, though, Chwalinska slipped deep in the backcourt (you know the look), with her left leg going one direction and her right collapsing in the other. She winced on the fall, which likely compromised her right knee (which was already sporting some tape), but played on. As it turned out, Riske got her footing in the match and didn't lose a game from there, winning 3-6/6-1/6-0. *Maybe* that was all about the veteran grass courter finding her way, but I do wonder in the Pole's knee might have impacted the overwhelming nature of that final score.

...after upsetting #23 Beatriz Haddad Maia in the 1st Round, the watch was on to see if Kaja Juvan could follow up her win. The Slovenian saw Dalma Galfi serve for the 1st set at 5-4 and hold SP, but Juvan got the break and then swept the next two games, as well, to steal the set. She took the 2nd at 6-3 to reach the 3rd Round at Wimbledon for a second straight year.

...at the end of the day, the race was on to beat the light. Well, the darkness, really.

Heather Watson had the chance to become the first British woman through to the 3rd Round, and to do it herself for the first time in 17 slams since she last played that far into a major at the 2017 Wimbledon. She served for the match against Wang Qiang at 7-5/5-3, but couldn't secure the hold to end the match before darkness led to the suspension of play. Instead, Wang got the break to get the 2nd set back on serve and they'll come back on Thursday with Watson leading 5-4 in the 2nd.

But Watson has nothing on Panna Udvardy. The Hungarian had a chance to add #24 Elise Mertens to The Rad's tally of seeded victims on Day 3. She served for the match against the Belgian at 6-3/6-5 and held two MP up 40/15. Mertens won a pair of back-to-back baseline rallies, though, getting the break and then winning a TB to extend the match to a 3rd set to be contested tomorrow.

And, remember, Mertens has that 17-slam 3rd Round appearance streak on the line, too.

...in doubles, AO champs Barbora Krejcikova & Katerina Siniakova are back on the court together after missing RG due to a late positive Covid test from Krejcikova after her 1st Round singles loss. They won their opening match today over Lechmeia/Parrizas Diaz, losing just two games. The Czechs won the the Wimbledon junior title in 2013, and the women's crown in 2018.









[Rad Remembrance Day Dates]
2013: June 26 (Wimbledon Day 3)
2014: June 26 (Wimbledon Day 3)
2015: June 26 (Eastbourne) & July 1 (Wimbledon Day 3)
2016: June 26 (no WTA matches) & June 29 (Wimb.Day 3)
2017: June 26 (Eastbourne) & July 5 (Wimb.Day 3)
2018: June 26 (Eastbourne/Wimb.Q1) & July 4 (Wimb.Day 3)
2019: June 26 (Eastbourne/Wimb.Q2) & July 3 (Wimb.Day 3)
2021: June 26 (Eastbourne/Bad Homburg) & June 30 (Wimb.Day 3)
2022: June 26 (no WTA matches) & June 29 (Wimb.Day 3)

*"RAD REMEMBRANCE DAY" HISTORY*
=2013 (inciting event)=
June 26 (Wimbledon Day 3)
"The Radwanskian Massacre" - 7 former #1's lose, w/ 4 additional walkovers and three ret. on day filled with falls, slips and stumbles

=2014=
June 26 (Wimbledon Day 3)
First unofficial commemoration of The Radwanskian Massacre. With the Radwanskian Threat Level meter in place and all on guard and vigilent, calm prevails.

=2015=
June 26 (official)
Aga Radwanska & the seagull (in Eastbourne, bird swoops at Radwanska as she serves... one day later, she loses in the singles final)
Wimbledon Day 3 (observed)
The hottest day ever recorded in Wimbledon history (35.7 C / 96 F), fire alarm evacuates Centre Court.

=2016=
June 26 (official)/Wimbledon Day 3 (observed)
The wet London weather rains... err, reigns. 74 singles and doubles matches are scheduled: 41 are cancelled, 15 interrupted and 18 completed. Only 6 matches were both started and finished solely on Day 3, with 4 of those played under the Centre Court roof. But Aga Radwanska opens the Centre Court schedule and wins without incident and, in a previously unscheduled C.C. match, Radwanska's '16 RG conqueror, Tsvetana Pironkova, loses.

=2017=
June 26 (official)
Eastbourne defending champ Dominika Cibulkova loses in opening match to WC Heather Watson; 4 LL's win MD matches (one LL vs. LL match-up); LL Tsvetana Pironkova advances to 2nd Rd. w/ 1st Rd. bye when Petra Kvitova withdraws, gets 2nd Rd. win
Wimbledon Day 3 (observed)
It's "Flying Ant Day" as the newly-emerged insects swarm the AELTC grounds. Meanwhile, six women's seeds fall, including two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.

=2018=
June 26 (official)
In Eastbourne, Aga Radwanska, playing in her first event in two months, saves 2 MP vs. Dasha Gavrilova (both via DF), wins a 2nd set tie-break, then takes the 3rd set at love. Gavrilova has 17 DF on the day.
Wimbledon Day 3 (observed)
As insects swarm the AELTC grounds on Flying Ant Day, reigning AO champ #2 Caroline Wozniacki falls on the infested Court 1 to Ekaterina Makarova, becoming the sixth Top 8 seed to fall in the tournament's first three days. Aga Radwanska flirts with staging a comeback from a set and 5-1 down and force a 3rd set (after having saved 6 MP in the 1st Rd.), saving a MP vs. Lucie Safarova before the Czech staves off a total of seven BP in an 11-minute game to hold and secure the win. It's Aga's first career "Rad Day" defeat (and she never plays at Wimbledon again after retiring at the end of the season). Later, rain interrupts play for the first time in the fortnight.

=2019=
June 26 (official)
In Eastbourne, a day after her first Top 10 victory in over a year (and first consecutive wins in back-to-back events since last grass season), '18 Wimbledon semifinalist (and former SW19 girls champ) Alona Ostapenko is forced to retire from her 3rd Round match with a hip injury.
Wimbledon Day 3 (observed)
Margarita Gasparyan, having overcome three knee surgeries and missing most of two years between 2016-18, comes within two points of defeating #8-seeded Elina Svitolina at 7-5/5-4. Five minutes later, she serves and lands awkwardly on her "bad" leg and immediately doubles over in pain. She is treated for cramping, and ultimately, in tears, retires while still leading 7-5/5-6, with an 82-81 points edge and 42-15 lead in winners.

=2021=
June 26 (official)
All quiet, but on 25th Ula Radwanska loses in final qualifying round and on 27th top-ranked Brit Konta w/d due to COVID quarantine
Wimbledon Day 3 (observed)
After two days of rain following a 715-day break since the last Wimbledon, the Day 3 schedule includes 39 women's (23 1r/16 2r) and 41 men's (27 1r/14 2r) singles matches. Slips and falls that led to back-to-back Centre Court retirements (including S.Williams) on Day 2 continued, and the day began with the unusual news that a pair of lucky losers -- Astra Sharma and Tsvetana Pironkova -- were being added to the draw three days into the event due to injuries (both former semifinalist Tsvetana Pironkova and Astra Sharma lost, the latter after holding a 4-2 3rd set lead). In all, three Top 10 women's seeds (#4 Kenin, #5 Andreescu and #9 Bencic) were ousted, longtime Wimbledon "marathon" man John Isner *lost* a five-setter, and 41-year old five-time champ Venus Williams was defeated a day after her sister left the tournament due to injury (marking just the fourth time in their long slam history that neither reached the 3rd Round of a major, and the first time ever at Wimbledon, where Venus became the first Williams to make her debut 24 years earlier).






*"ALTERNATE" RAD DAYS?*
=2015 (Jr. Radwanska Day) - Day 7/July 6=
Three of the Top 4 junior girls lost in the 1st Rd.: #1 Marketa Vondrousova (Roehampton RU), #3 Dalma Galfi (Roehampton W) and #4 Anna Kalinskaya (RG Girls RU)

=2016 (Day 4/June 30)=
#2 seed/RG champ/'15 RU Garbine Muguruza loses; #3 Aga Radwanska saves 3 MP, one on a net cord, as Ana Konjuh rolls her ankle after stepping on a ball, and Aga wins a 9-7 3rd set; eleven women's (and seven men's) seeds fall, as well as Heather Watson vs. Annika Beck (Watson had three MP, out early one year after two points from upset of Serena Williams in '15 3rd Rd.)

=2017 (Day 4/July 6)=
In muggy conditions, four women's seeds (and four men's) fall, including "favorite" #3 Karolina Pliskova, as no Czech woman reach the 3rd Round for the first time in eight years. Players slip and fall with controversial court conditions. Bethanie Mattek-Sands suffers a devastating knee injury. Aga Radwanska saves two MP vs. Christina McHale to advance.

=2018 (Days 1 & 2/July 2 & 3)=
On Day 1, the #4 (Sloane Stephens), #5 (Elina Svitolina) seeded players, and a '17 semifinalist (Magdalena Rybarikova) all lose, while Aga Radwanska saves six MP vs. Elena-Gabriela Ruse and survives. CoCo Vandeweghe, Venus Williams and Victoria Azarenka fall on the slippery courts. On Day 2, former champions Petra Kvitova (the pre-tournament favorite) and Maria Sharapova (in the 1st Round for the first time ever at Wimbledon) lose, as does #6 Caroline Garcia as four of the Top 8 women's seeds are out before the 2nd Round for the first time in Wimbledon history. Ten total women's seeds lose in the 1st Round, the same number as on the men's side.

=2019 (Day 2/July 2)=
Former slam winners Maria Sharapova (ret.), Garbine Muguruza, Sam Stosur and Svetlana Kuznetsova (and former finalist Genie Bouchard) all lose.

=2021 (Day 2/June 29)=
Adrian Mannarino and Serena Williams both slip on slick Centre Court grass and retire in back-to-back matches.











...So... ON DAY 3:

No Mladenovic in MX doubles, either. Apparently, she wins one minor league singles title and decides she doesn't need to play the events in which she's won *two* majors this year.




...THIS CORNER SCOREBOARD FORMAT... ON DAY 3:



I mean, in a best-of-three, just put the 1st set score up instead of "1-0" in sets. Stupid.


...THE DAY AFTER (EEK!)... ON DAY 3:




...BUT *SHE* STILL DOESN'T CARE... ON DAY 3:




...WELL, THEY'VE GOT TIME... ON DAY 3:

















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*RECENT WIMBLEDON "CRASH & BURN" WINNERS*
2014 Sloane Stephens, USA (1st Rd.)
2015 Genie Bouchard, CAN & Simona Halep, ROU (both 1st Rd.)
2016 Garbine Muguruza, ESP (RG champ; 2nd Rd.)
2017 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS (1st Rd; 7 MP)
2018 Petra Kvitova, CZE (1st Rd.)
2019 Naomi Osaka, JPN (1st Rd.)
2021 Serena Williams, USA & Petra Kvitova, CZE (both 1st Rd.)
2022 Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA & Garbine Muguruza, ESP (both 1st Rd.)

*ROEHAMPTON CHAMPS, w/ WIMBLEDON JR. RESULT*
1996 Amelie Mauresmo, FRA = won Wimbledon Jr. title
1997 Brie Rippner, USA = lost Wimb.Jr. F
1998 Jelena Dokic, AUS = lost Wimb.Jr. SF
1999 Lina Krasnoroutskaya, RUS = lost Wimb.Jr. F
2000 Aniko Kapros, HUN = lost Wimb.Jr. QF
2001 Gisela Dulko, ARG = lost Wimb.Jr. 3r
2002 Vera Dushevina, RUS = won Wimbledon Jr. title
2003 Allison Baker, USA = lost Wimb.Jr. QF
2004 Michaella Krajicek, NED = lost Wimb.Jr. SF
2005 Caroline Wozniacki, DEN = lost Wimb.Jr. 1r
2006 Kristina Antoniychuk, UKR = lost Wimb.Jr. 3r
2007 Petra Kvitova, CZE = lost Wimb.Jr. 3r
2008 Melanie Oudin, USA = lost Wimb.Jr. 2r
2009 Kristina Mladenovic, FRA = lost Wimb.Jr. F
2010 Kristyna Pliskova, CZE = won Wimbledon Jr. title
2011 Indy de Vroome, NED = lost Wimb.Jr. SF
2012 Genie Bouchard, CAN = won Wimbledon Jr. title
2013 Belinda Bencic, SUI = won Wimbledon Jr. title
2014 Alona Ostapenko, LAT = won Wimbledon Jr. title
2015 Dalma Galfi, HUN = lost Wimb.Jr. 1r
2016 Anastasia Potapova, RUS = won Wimbledon Jr. title
2017 Claire Liu, USA = won Wimbledon Jr. title
2018 Coco Gauff, USA = lost Wimb.Jr. QF
2019 Daria Snigur, UKR = won Wimbledon Jr. title
2021 Linda Fruhvirtova, CZE = lost Wimb.Jr. SF
2022 this week




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Such a pathetic individual, really. His denials are just form letters where he changes the names and pronouns.




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TOP QUALIFIER: Maja Chwalinska/POL
TOP EARLY-ROUND (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-ROUND (SF-F): xx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q1 - Jaimee Fourlis/AUS def. Dea Herdzelas/BIH 5-7/7-6(4)/6-4 (trailed 7-5/5-3, saved 2 MP)
TOP EARLY-RD. MATCH (1r-2r): xx
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): xx
TOP LATE-RD. MATCH (SF-F/Jr.-WC): xx
=============================
FIRST VICTORY: #28 Alison Riske/USA (def. Y.In-Albon/SUI)
FIRST SEED OUT: #31 Kaia Kanepi/EST (1st Rd.-Diane Parry/FRA)
FIRST SLAM MD WINS: Maja Chwalinska/POL, Elisabetta Cocciaretto/ITA, Dalma Galfi/HUN, Catherine Harrison/USA, Mai Hontama/JPN, Katarzyna Kawa/POL, Jule Niemeier/GER, Panna Udvardy/HUN
UPSET QUEENS: France
REVELATION LADIES: Poland
NATION OF POOR SOULS: AUS (1-5 1st; DC Barty retired in March)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: In 2r: Chwalinska/POL (L), Harrison/USA, Hontama/JPN (L), Kawa/POL (L), Wickmayer/BEL (L); (LL 1r win: Kerkhove/NED)
LAST WILD CARD STANDING: Katie Boulter/GBR (in 2r)
PROTECTED RANKING WINS: In 2r: Cocciaretto/ITA (L), Flipkens/BEL, Wickmayer/BEL(Q) (L)
LAST BRIT STANDING: In 2r: Boulter, Dart, Raducanu (L), Watson
Ms. OPPORTUNITY: xx
IT "??": xx
COMEBACK PLAYER: xx
CRASH & BURN: #23 Beatriz Haddad Maia/BRA (1st Rd./Juvan; had won 2 grass titles); #9 Garbine Muguruza/ESP (1st Rd./Minnen; love 2nd lost when back; worst three-slam stretch of career
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF LONDON: Nominee: Tan (1r: S.Williams for match at 5-4, up 4-0 in TB)
DOUBLES STAR: xx
VETERAN PLAYER (KIMIKO CUP): Nominees: Cornet, Swarmettes, Germans
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xx
SPIRIT OF JANA (NOVOTNA) HONOREES: Nominees: Halep, Flipkens






All for Day 3. More tomorrow.
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