QUICK SERVED: Wimbledon Day 1 - Seeded Players Fall

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Hey everyone, John Wartime here. It is day one from Wimbledon 2025. This is Quickserve brought to you by Mercury. It was a hot one here in SW19. I should say hot by British standards. People from... Central Florida and Phoenix and Cincinnati in August probably are laughing at the condition talk. But by Wimbledon standards, it was hot. Didn't have a huge impact.

On play, a couple of fans were uncomfortable and somebody passed out during a match. But hot one today, good day of tennis. We were groping for a theme and about the best we could come up with was close but not quite. Players that were...

going through the desert and nearly at the promised land that didn't quite get there, that were on the banks of victory and didn't quite make it to shore, not least Fabio Fonini. The Italian veteran who had to qualify and unsuccessfully who had to try to qualify at Roland Garros was in the main draw here and got Carlos Alcaraz in round one and gave him a real match. Alcaraz was a... Get this, a 50-1 favorite before the match. Alcaraz going for his third straight.

Title here, his sixth major overall. And this was a tight, tight match. Went to a fifth set and had some great shot making. So some lapses. The players seldom played their best at the same time. Still a very entertaining match. In the end, Carlos Alcares wins. Fabio Funini does not get what would have been really a signature victory for his career, but a fun first round match, probably a little bit more than he bargained for for Carlos Alcaraz. But as we saw in Paris, a couple of tight matches.

Did not seem to have any real detriment on his game over seven matches. Other matches that were close, but not quite. Madison Keyes, who remember, is going for her second major of the year and I think is a real threat. to win this one her game matches up so well with grass that serve is as good as any in ratio since serena and she had a tough match today against a qualifier

against Gabriela Elena Ruzza, who was right there in the match, won the first set. Ruzza then got very tight, literally, as in cramps, pulsating. It was actually kind of scary images of her on the ground and her leg. Trembling. She vomited at one point. And a tight match. Roussa could not close the second. And in the third, another tight set. But Madison Keyes escapes with a victory. Again, this would have been...

A signature win for Ruza and close, but not quite. They're also sort of close, but not quite in a macro kind of way. Anstrabur has come very close to winning majors, has been in the top five. Was it two Wimbledon finals? Her game and her body. I've really sort of betrayed her lately. She was 59 coming in here, was scheduled to...

Court 14 was a little jarring to see a former top five player and a recent two-time finalist on one of the smaller courts. And she didn't last long against Victoria Tomova of Bulgaria. Ansterberg, the first set, had a strange moment where she called for the trainer. She had her vigils taken. She left the court at one point.

came back and played out the first, lost it, and then early in the second set, she retired with sort of an undisclosed injury. She's had some breathing trouble. She's had shoulder injuries. She's had knee injuries. 30 years old, and this has been a rough year so far. And you sort of wonder what the rest of her career holds in store, because this is not a stock headed in the right direction. Same for Stefano Tsitsipas. Actually, a lot of symmetry there. Another former top five player.

Another player who's been. two major finals. It has come very close. Remember, he was up two sets to love against Novak Djokovic at Roland Garros several years ago. Couldn't close. This is a much different player, and he's had a rough go of it. He's been very outspoken about that. He was 26 coming in here, and that number is...

going to get lower as well because he only lasted two sets before he retired with a back injury. At one point, sort of saying to himself, I have no chance of winning this match. When you say that aloud during a... major match, that's not a good sign. And so another disappointing result.

for Tsitsipas, who afterwards was very outspoken and very candid about how he's really struggling. Another player whose career is not going in the right direction, Daniil Medvedev, who has gotten to the promised land. He did win that one major, but he has not been the same player over the last few years.

Hasn't won a tournament in more than two years. Remember this year at Australia, second round, he lost in that fifth set tiebreaker to teenager Lerner Tien, who incidentally was a winner today as well here at Wimbledon. Roland Garros. Medvedev lost in the first round to Cam Norrie. And then here, against Benjamin Bonzi, the French player, Medvedev again went down. Middle of the match, a typical Medvedev fashion. He sort of said...

Boy, if this guy played like this all the time, he could be a millionaire. Does he do it every time? No, he does not. He just chose today. Medvedev did not have it, and another disappointing result for him. He will be outside the top 10, and he's a player really searching for some answers. Two-time finalist, not just two times, but the last two years he's gotten to the semifinals here. That will not happen because he went out.

Early. Other results from the rounds, it was a good day overall for South America. And by extension, I would say a pretty good day for the... prognostications of two members of the Serve podcast team. As Andy predicted, Francisco Sorundolo did not have it. He went out in round one to Nuno Borges. And then how about Nick Jari from Chile, the Chilean tennis renaissance.

afoot because as someone predicted, he took out Holger Runa, the underachieving Dane. Joao Fonseca, keeping with our South America. He was a winner as well. Something about the first round. I mean, there's so many matches going on here, right? I mean, there's 64 matches in the first round split over two days, but over two draws. It's impossible to go through all the results and what you.

Forget what too easy is forgotten in the sport. Everyone has a story. Everyone has hopes and dreams. Everyone's got a backstory. I had the good fortune of talking today with with Carson Brandstein, who played college tennis. We talked about her. The other day on the preview show, she played Arena Sabalenka in the first round and really gave her a tough match. Brandstein played...

She was at USC, never actually played there. Then she went to Virginia. Then she went and actually played at Texas A&M and sort of revitalized her career. But it's been a struggle for her. How much? She told me today that in February, she was driving for Uber. She was doing Uber Eats deliveries. Why? Because she realized that her bank account was down to $26 and she wanted to continue playing tennis. But she had to figure out a way to subsidize her tennis. So what did she do? She moonlights.

When she's training in Los Angeles, she also did Uber Eats deliveries. She probably won't be doing too many more deliveries because she's a really terrific player, very powerful game, and serving over 120. She qualified by beating Louis Boussaint. Then she beat Bianca Andreescu, former major champion, who was one of her good friends and one of her doubles partners growing up.

gets into the main draw, gets Sabalenka, and really gave her a nice match, especially in the second set. Keep an eye on her. She is now in the top 100. She gets $90,000 alone for her results this last week. Keep an eye on her. But also it's a good reminder that all these players have stories and you go through the draw and you see names. Some you recognize, some you don't. But I think too easily.

We forget that everyone has their own set of hopes and dreams. Everyone has their own path. And talking to Carson today was really one of the highlights of my day. And other sort of similar lines, Adrian Manorino. Again, one of these French veterans, been around a while, been in the top. 20. He's 37 years old and had to qualify. And he won his first match as well. So here's a guy who sort of plays with a low, strong racket, a lefty, a very unconventional player and pushing age 40.

He easily could have retired. He decided not to give it one more run. And here he is in the second round of Wimbledon after having.

qualified. Again, fun day all around. I mean, full disclosure, it's about 930 here. And remember that there is a curfew, but there also is a roof and lights. What does that mean? It means when matches go late, as they did today, Alcaraz played on center court. Katie Bolter followed. three sets. And as a few people, I think, predicted, beat Paola Bedosa.

But what does that mean? It means it really jammed the schedule. So Alexander Zverev was slated to play the third seed, and he didn't get on the court until about 9 p.m. So we do not have his result. We also don't have the result of Taylor Fritz, who, as we speak, is playing our guy, Gio. Pesci, Perry Card, the hard-serving Frenchman. If we look here at the scores real quick, they are early in the fourth set.

Paracard already up to 25 aces. More importantly, he's up two sets to one. Won the first two sets. Taylor came back. We'll see if this can turn. But so far, it's been a rough day for... for Taylor Fritz against Pericard, who we knew from the start was going to be a very dangerous opponent. But so it goes here. We're going to have a late night. Who knows if they'll even beat the curfew. A full day tomorrow.

Day two, what do we have? Yannick Sinner going for his first Wimbledon. We talked about how already it's been an eventful tournament for him, having parted ways with his physio. And with his trainer, it's the second time he's had to do that in less than a year. He did the U.S. Open under different circumstances, but a very strange personnel shakeup on the eve.

of a major. I asked around and no one really has a good answer. I mean, Sinner was asked about it and sort of said, well, it's nothing major. I'm not sure what we were supposed to read into. read into that. I mean, I was told their Italian media report was that one of them had given an interview that didn't please center, but very strange personnel move to make on the eve of a major, even for a player who hasn't made the exact same move right before.

The U.S. Open. I was told that there are trainers from the Italian Federation as well as tournament trainers here if there is some medical condition. But Sinner hasn't hit a ball yet and already been. Pretty strange tournament. He starts against countryman Luka Nardi. Petra Kvitova playing her final win with a two-time champ here. The lefty is playing Emma Navarro. Emma Navarro has not been playing great tennis, but I'm not sure Kvitova is really in shape to win.

to win matches, especially if this one goes three sets. But hopefully she'll get the warm sendoff here she deserves. Jack Draper in action, the British Hope. He was a bit sick, but claims he's now feeling fine. He's the fourth seed. Other players in action. Jesse Bakula, fresh from winning a grass court tournament, starts off on court one. Musetti as well. Iga Svantec, who has not won a tournament in more than a year, but did reach her first final in a year.

This over the weekend before losing to Pagula. She is an action against Kudermatova. Ben Shelton, not a great grass court season for him, but he gets the court one assignment, which tells you a bit about his prospects and his star power. He is a 10th seed. Other players in action, Tommy Paul, Andreva.

Grigor Dimitrov against Nishioka, and Elena Rabakina, who, of course, won this event three years ago. Full day of tennis. We will be back with another quick serve from Wimbledon brought to you by Mercury. Tomorrow we will grope desperately for another storyline and hope it's a little bit cooler, but it's not that hot really. Enjoy day two from the champions. Support for the show comes from Mercury, the banking product that does it all. No, seriously.

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