First round review: the performance round

The first round of Wimbledon was one characterized by the quality of a few performances. Devoid of epic five setters, or even a thrilling four setter, what stood out in this year’s first round was the play of a few underdogs, on paper if not class.

On day one, Monica Puig started it off as she knocked out Sara Errani in straights. This was a shock on paper at least, Errani being seeded fifth. However Puig, playing in her first Wimbledon main draw played like she was used to defeating such highly seeded opponents in Majors and not like a virgin on the Grass. And it was Errani who conceded a Golden set in last year’s championships, so her defeat was not entirely unpredictable.

The same cannot be said of the big shock of the first round, one of the biggest in Wimbledon’s history: the victory of Steve Darcis over fifth seeded Nadal in straight sets. At most, one would have expected a classic five setter and when Nadal went down two sets to love that is what most people expected. For Nadal to lose in straights to a man ranked 135 was unthinkable. But it happened because Darcis, who has had some success on the Grass in his career, played the match of his life; all those years on the tour and his aggressive mindset culminating in a performance that will likely overshadow all others the first week.

The final great performance of the first day was Hewitt beating Wawrinka, again in straights. Wawrinka is a hugely talented player having a career year but the 32 year old Australian, whose career years are a decade behind him, delivered what he loves doing: a performance to get the fists pumping on a Wimbledon show court. The man who defeated Federer in the Halle final three years ago played with the heart and gras court skills that saw him win the title in 2002 to knock out the Swiss number two.

On the second day of the first round one performance thrilled the crowd more than any others: Laura Robson’s straight sets defeat of tenth seed Maria Kirilenko. Robson played with utter conviction to move into the second round, playing first strike clean hitting tennis worthy of a Davenport and exciting in us ideas of her pulling off, if not this year then in the near future, a 1999 Davenportesque Wimbledon run.