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A32 sports
Diamars 29 Juni 2021

Welcome back, Wimbledon: Slam returns to

rain, fans, upsets

either are fully vaccinated or
had COVID-19 in the past
six months. All players and
their entourages have to stay
at one London hotel, where
they take regular tests and are
subject to contact tracing.

Britain’s only seeded woman
in singles, No. 27 Johanna
Konta, was forced to with-
draw Sunday night because
she must self-isolate for 10
days after one of her team
(AP) — Shortly after 1:30 opponents ranked in the Top members tested positive for
p.m. on Monday, two years 5. COVID-19.
minus two weeks from the
last time a meaningful “That guy is special. He’s go- The top-seeded Djokovic
match was played at Wim- ing to do a lot of great things, got off to a slow start in his
bledon, a voice blared over win a ton of Grand Slams,” bid for a record-tying 20th
the loudspeakers: “Good Tiafoe said about Tsitsipas, Grand Slam title and sixth at
afternoon and welcome to then broke into a wide smile Wimbledon.
Centre Court.” and added: “But not today.”
It would have been so easy
Then came an announce- He and Stephens are among — so understandable, even
ment welcoming “special 34 Americans in the singles — for Draper to be fazed
guests in the Royal Box,” in- brackets (21 women, 13 by the moment and the op-
cluding a woman who devel- men), the most at Wimble- ponent, the setting and the
oped one of the COVID-19 don since there were 35 in stakes, right away. This was
vaccines, prompting the first 1998. Others who won on his Grand Slam main draw
of the day’s several stand- Day 1 included qualifier De- debut, after all. But he stole
ing ovations from spectators. nis Kudla, who knocked off the first break to lead 2-1 and
And, eventually, came the No. 30 Alejandro Davidov- wound up taking that set by
words, “We’ve waited awhile ich Fokina 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (4), saving 7 of 7 break points.
for this,” before the intro- 6-3, 6-3; 2020 Australian
duction of Novak Djokovic Open champion Sofia Kenin, Djokovic took two tumbles
and the opponent he would 2017 U.S. Open runner-up onto his backside in the first
go on to beat 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, Madison Keys, Danielle Col- set, losing his footing on the
6-2 with the help of 25 aces, lins and Lauren Davis. slick grass behind the base-
Jack Draper, a 19-year-old line. This was his first com-
wild-card entry from Eng- Other seeded men who lost: petitive singles match on the
land ranked 253rd. No. 19 Jannik Sinner of Italy surface since edging Roger
and No. 27 Reilly Opelka of Federer in the 2019 final.
It was, in some respects, as if the U.S.
Wimbledon had never left, “To be honest, I don’t recall
as if the All England Club “Not playing last year was falling this many times on the
hadn’t decided to cancel the very, very disappointing, and court,” Djokovic said with a
oldest Grand Slam tourna- it feels a little bit weird that laugh. “Well, quite slippery,
ment for the first time since there was such a big gap in whether it’s because the roof
World War II a year ago be- between grass seasons. But is closed or it was raining
cause of the pandemic. There to have a crowd and the size quite a lot the last few days, I
was raucous cheering from of the crowd that we had to- don’t know.”
the stands. There was rain day — I, at one point, felt like
— so much rain that play on it was back to normal,” said A 125 mph service winner
courts without a roof was de- No. 23 Keys, who beat Brit- gave Draper the opening set
layed more than 4 1/2 hours ish qualifier Katie Swan 6-3, after 37 minutes. He shook
and at least 20 matches were 6-4 without facing a break his racket, then pumped his
postponed until Tuesday. point. right fist.

And there was tennis — and “It was just very, very nice to The crowd roared.
reminders of how sports are be back in a situation where
unpredictable and can bring you felt an amazing crowd,” And two hours later, it was all
such joy and disappointment. Keys said, “even if they were over.
A pair of Americans picked cheering, obviously, for my
up the most newsworthy vic- opponent and wanted her Djokovic cleaned up his act
tories: Frances Tiafoe elimi- to win. It was just so nice to considerably, going from just
nated French Open runner- have energy and people who six winners and nine un-
up and No. 3 seed Stefanos are excited to watch tennis.” forced errors in the opening
Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4, 6-3, while set to a combined 41 winners
2017 U.S. Open champion The coronavirus still looms and 15 unforced errors the
Sloane Stephens beat two- over the event. rest of the way.
time Wimbledon winner and
No. 10 seed Petra Kvitova Fans must wear masks “I’m really glad,” he said,
6-3, 6-4. around the grounds (al- speaking for many, “that the
though not while watching a sport is back.”
Tiafoe had been 0-11 against match) and show proof they