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John Wertheim (1:19)

Hey everyone, John Wertheim Here it is day one from Wimbledon 2025. This is quick Serve brought to you by Mertury. It was a hot one here in Essex W19. 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 and didn't quite get there, that were on the banks of victory and didn't quite make it to shore. Not least Fabio Fognini, 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 51 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 some lapses. The players seldom played their best at the same time. Still a very Entertaining match in the end. Carlos Alcaraz 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 Keys, 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 Rizzio since Serena. And she had a tough match today against a qualifier against Gabriella. Elena Ruza, who was right there in the match, won the first set. Rusa 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. Ruza could not close the second. And in the third another tight set. But Madison Keys 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. Onsdaber has come very close to winning majors, has been in the top five. Was it two Wimbledon finals? Her game and her body have really sort of betrayed her lately. She was 59 coming in here, was scheduled to court 14. It 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. Onsterber the first set had. It was sort of a strange moment where she called for the trainer. She had her vitals taken. She left the court at one point, came back and played out the first, lost it. And admit 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 Stefan Tsitsipas, actually a lot of symmetry there. Another former top five player, another player who's been to major finals and has come very close. Remember he was up two sets of love against Novak Djokovic at Roland Garro several years ago. Couldn't close. This is a much different player and he's had a rough go of it, has 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 Nouri. And then here against Benjamin Banzi, the French player, Medvedev again went down middle of the match. A typical Medvedev fashion. You sort of said, boy, 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 finalists, 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 round, the ring around. It was a good good day overall for South America and by extension, I would say pretty good day for. For the prognostications of two members of the Serve podcast team. As Andy predicted, Francisco Sorundolo did not have it. He. He went out in round one to Nuno Borges. And then how about Nick Jari from Chile? The Chilean tennis renaissance is afoot because as someone predicted, he took out Holger Runa, the underachieving Dane Joao Fonseca. Keeping with our South America theme, 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 to 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 Carson Branstein, who played college tennis. We talked about her the other day on the preview show. She played Irina Sabalenka in the first round and really gave her a tough match. Branstein played. She was at usc, never actually played there. Then she went to Virginia. Then she went and actually played at Texas A and 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 Lois Boisson. Then she beat Bianca Andreescu, former major champion who is 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. Another sort of similar lines. Adrian Manarino again, one of these. French veteran, 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 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 9:30 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, went three sets. And as a few people, I Think predicted beat Paolo Badosa. 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 till about 9pm 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 Perri Card, the hard serving Frenchman. If we look here at the scores real quick, they are early in the fourth set. Pericard 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 Perry Card 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 be the curfew full day tomorrow. Day 2 what do we have? Jannik 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. So second time he's had to do that in, in less than a year. He did that at the US 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 Sinner. 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 US 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 Wimbledon. The 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 in shape to win to win matches especially if this one goes three sets. But hopefully she'll get the warm send off here she deserves. Jack Draper in action. The British hope had a. He was a bit sick but claims he's. He's now feeling fine. He's the fourth seed. Other players in Action Jessica, fresh from winning a grass court tournament, starts off on Court one. Musetti as well. IGA Swiatek, who has not won a tournament in more than a year, but did reach her first final in a year this over over the weekend before losing to Pula. She is in action against Kudurmatova. 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 has a 10th seed. Other players in action Tommy Paul Andreeva, Grigor Dimitrov against Nishioka and Elena Rybakina 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 Championship.