By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer
LONDON — Carlos Alcaraz, locked in a five-set struggle at Centre Court, looked toward his coach Monday and shouted something about how Fabio Fognini – 38, retiring after this season, winless in 2025 – looked as if he could keep playing until he’s 50.
“I don’t know why it’s his last Wimbledon,” Alcaraz said later, “because the level he has shown, he can still play three or four more years. Unbelievable.”
The two-time defending champion at the All England Club needed to go through more than 4½ hours of back-and-forth shifts against the much-older and much-less-accomplished Fognini before emerging with a 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 victory in the first round amid record-breaking Day 1 heat (91 degrees).
It wasn’t supposed to be that tough.
Consider, to begin with, that the second-seeded Alcaraz is 22, already a five-time Grand Slam champion, including his latest at the French Open three weeks ago, and is currently on a career-best 19-match winning streak.
Consider, too, that Fognini has never been past the third round at the All England Club in 15 appearances and reached the quarterfinals at any major tournament just once – way back at the 2011 French Open. He entered Monday ranked 138th and 0-6 this year.
Oh, and then there’s this: Only twice has the reigning men’s champion at Wimbledon been beaten in the first round the following year, Lleyton Hewitt in 2003 and Manuel Santana in 1967.
There were times Monday when Alcaraz appeared to be something less than his best, far from the form he displayed during his epic five-set, 5½-hour comeback victory over No. 1 Jannik Sinner for the championship at Roland-Garros.
Alcaraz double-faulted nine times. He faced a hard-to-believe 21 break points. He made more unforced errors, 62, than winners, 52.
He chalked some of that up to nerves.
“Playing the first match at Centre Court, and the first match of every tournament, is never easy,” said Alcaraz, who beat Novak Djokovic in the 2023 and 2024 finals on the same court. “I’ve been practicing pretty well. I’ve been playing on grass really well. But Wimbledon is special. It’s different.”
Next for Alcaraz will be a match Wednesday against Oliver Tarvet, a 21-year-old British qualifier who plays college tennis at the University of San Diego and is ranked 733rd.
Still, Alcaraz said: “I have to improve in the next round.”
Fognini – whose wife, 2015 U.S. Open champion Flavia Pennetta, held one of their children in the stands – is a self-described hot-head and is known for mid-match flareups, including at Wimbledon, where he was fined $3,000 in 2019 for saying during a match that he wished “a bomb would explode at the club” and a then-record $27,500 in 2014 for a series of outbursts. He was put on a two-year probation by the Grand Slam Board in 2017 after insulting a female chair umpire at the U.S. Open and getting kicked out of that tournament.
Such behavior wasn’t displayed Monday. And when Alcaraz pushed a forehand long to cede the fourth set, Fognini nodded toward his guest box, where a member of his entourage stood to snap a photo with a cellphone. Things were picture-perfect for Fognini at that moment.
But at the outset of the fifth – the first time the previous year’s male champ was pushed that far in the first round since Roger Federer in 2010 – Alcaraz recalibrated.
When the Spaniard broke to lead 2-0 in that set with a backhand volley winner, he pointed toward the stands, threw an uppercut and screamed, “Vamos!” In the next game, he saved a pair of break points, before the match was paused for more than 10 minutes because a spectator felt ill amid record-breaking high temperatures for Day 1 of Wimbledon.
When they resumed, Alcaraz outplayed Fognini the rest of the way.
While Alcaraz escaped, at least five seeded men exited on Day 1, including No. 8 Holger Rune, No. 9 Daniil Medvedev – who also lost in the first round at the French Open – No. 16 Francisco Cerundolo, No. 20 Alexei Popyrin and No. 24 Stefanos Tsitsipas, who quit because of a persistent lower-back problem after dropping the first two sets.
“I’m battling many wars these days,” said Tsitsipas, a two-time runner-up in Grand Slam events. “It’s really painful to see myself in a situation like this. I feel like I’m left without answers. I don’t know. I’ve tried everything.
“I’ve done an incredible job with my fitness. I’ve done an incredible job with my physiotherapy, so I’ve maximized on everything that I possibly can do. Right now, I’m just absolutely left with no answers.”
He has reached only one quarterfinal in his past nine Grand Slam tournaments and his hopes of playing in the U.S. Open appear to be in jeopardy.
“It’s probably the most difficult situation that I’ve ever been faced with, because it’s an ongoing issue that doesn’t seem to be disappearing or fading,” said Tsitsipas, who has recently started working with Goran Ivanisevic, Novak Djokovic’s former coach. “I have a limit at some point, so I’ll definitely have to have my final answer on whether I want to do stuff or not in the next couple of months.
“Tennis is a rotational sport, and if you can’t rotate, then there’s no reason playing it.”
Fifth-seeded Taylor Fritz’s match against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in Wimbledon’s first round was suspended after four sets on Monday night in case they wouldn’t be able to finish before the tournament’s 11 p.m. curfew.
They’ll resume on Tuesday. Mpetshi Perricard took the initial two sets 7-6 (6), 7-6 (8), before Fritz grabbed the next two 6-4, 7-6 (6).
Playing with the No. 1 Court retractable roof closed and artificial lights on, Mpetshi Perricard was two points from winning while leading 5-2 in the fourth-set tiebreaker, but never got closer.
From 6-all, 2024 U.S. Open runner-up Fritz took the next two points to force a fifth set and pounded his right fist on his chest, yelling, “Let’s (expletive) go! Come on!” It was about 10:15 p.m., and the players met up at the net with an official to discuss whether or not to continue.
Eventually, the chair umpire announced to the crowd: “Ladies and gentlemen, due to the late time of the day, we will not be able to finish the match. Therefore the match will be suspended until tomorrow. Play is suspended.”
Over at Centre Court, Monday’s last match also was halted, with No. 3 Alexander Zverev, a three-time major finalist, even at a set apiece against Arthur Rinderknech when they stopped at 10:54 p.m.
There were no breaks of serve in either of the two sets they played. Rinderknech took the first 7-6 (3), and Zverev the second by a 7-6 (8) score.
Fritz did not appear pleased about the interruption of his match. He looked toward his guest box with his palms up and said: “I couldn’t do anything. I tried.”
In a match between two of the tour’s top servers, Mpetshi Perricard hit 33 aces before play was stopped, and Fritz hit 24. Mpetshi Perricard never earned a break point during the four sets contested Monday; Fritz had five chances and converted one.
Fritz, a 27-year-old Californian, was a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon in 2022, losing to Rafael Nadal, and again a year ago, losing to Lorenzo Musetti.
Mpetshi Perricard, a 21-year-old Frenchman, reached the fourth round at the All England Club last year, also eliminated by Musetti.
No. 20 Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champ, lost, while women’s winners included No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, 2023 Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova and 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu.
RECORD-BREAKING HEAT
Wimbledon players and spectators were hit by record-breaking Day 1 heat as the temperature rose to 91 degrees at the oldest Grand Slam tournament on Monday.
“For sure, you feel like the sun is getting closer and closer every minute that passes by,” said Adrian Mannarino, a 37-year-old Frenchman who frequently sprayed his shaved head with sunscreen at changeovers during his first-round victory. “I was struggling a little more than usual.”
The 2001 fortnight had the previous hottest opening day at the All England Club, reaching 85 degrees.
“I feel like everyone is kind of struggling with the heat right now,” Germany’s Eva Lys said after winning her match Monday.
Some sweat-soaked athletes sought help from ice-filled towels wrapped around their necks while they sat on sideline chairs.
Others said it actually wasn’t all that unbearable, especially given that the weather was not extraordinary compared to what often occurs during the local summers when the Australian Open is held in Melbourne in January or the U.S. Open is in New York in August and September. At those events, temperatures regularly get to 90 degrees and can top 100.
A 2023 Associated Press analysis showed the average high temperatures felt during the U.S. Open and the three other major tennis tournaments steadily have gotten higher and more dangerous in recent decades, reflecting the climate change that has created record heat waves. For the players, it can inhibit them from playing their best and, worse, increase the likelihood of heat-related illness.
By local standards, this certainly was significant.
“I’m not going to lie, it was pretty hot. I think (it was) a bit of a rookie mistake, not doing a change of clothes at the end of the set,” said Sonay Kartal, a British player who eliminated 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko. “It was hot, but I had ice towels, cold drinks and stuff. I wouldn’t say it affected me too much.”
The average daytime temperature in London in June is 71 degrees. The government’s official weather office said this spring was Britain’s “warmest and sunniest” since that’s been tracked.
“I’ll spend the whole day going from one shady spot to another,” said Sally Bolton, the chief executive officer of the All England Club.
“Obviously, it’s a very warm day. The first obvious point to make is that the athletes compete in temperatures like this all year on the tour,” Bolton said. “For us Brits here at The Championships, it feels very hot.”
Wimbledon, like other tennis tournaments, monitors air temperature, surface temperature and humidity for a heat-stress reading that, if it exceeds 30.1 degrees Celsius (about 86 degrees Fahrenheit), allows for 10-minute breaks between the second and third sets of women’s matches or between the third and fourth sets of men’s matches.
Among other precautions being taken Monday, Bolton said, were having more ice on court available for players to use to cool off, rotating ball girls and boys more frequently “if we feel we need to,” and giving regular breaks to workers around the grounds.
As for fans, Bolton said, “we’re offering the same advice as lots of the medical professionals: Come prepared. Bring a hat. Wear sunscreen. Wear light clothing if you can. Take breaks out of the sun. We’ve got over 100 water points around the grounds, so definitely stay hydrated. And keep an eye on your friends and others around you. If people look like they’re suffering a little bit from heat stress, we’ve got a really significantly sized medical team here.”
Fans used umbrellas to offer shade, rather than protection from the drizzles often seen around these parts. A year ago, because of persistent showers, it took four days – instead of the scheduled two – to complete the first round.
Thinking back to the rain-filled Wimbledon of 2024, Bolton joked: “We’re not used to these sort of temperatures, but we’re absolutely ready for it – and actually delighted that it’s sunny and not wet, like it was last year.”
USD’S TARVET WINS, TO FORFEIT PRIZE MONEY
British amateur Oliver Tarvet will forgo the majority of his $135,000 prize money for reaching the second round.
World No. 733 Tarvet earned a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 straight-sets win over Leandro Riedi in his opening match, booking a dream clash with Alcaraz in the second round.
Tarvet, who plays college tennis for the University of San Diego and had to qualify for the championships, can keep only $10,000 in profit each year.
“There’s a lot of emotions, just really overjoyed. All the hard work I put in the last few years has clearly paid off,” Tarvet told the BBC after the match.
“It’s my first tour-level event, to come out here, come through qualifying, win a first-round match, have a chance to play maybe Carlos on Wednesday, it’s just a dream come true.”
On issue of forgoing prize money, he said: “I’ve got to find more and more on expenses by the day. We’ll see. I’m not here for the money, I’m here for the crowd and the experience and just to stamp my mark. I think I’ve done a pretty good job so far.”
Who plays on Tuesday?
No. 2 seed Coco Gauff, coming off her second major title, plays in Day 2’s last match at Centre Court against Dayana Yastremska. The other matches in the main arena, starting at 1:30 p.m. local time (5:30 a.m. PT), are defending champion Barbora Krejcikova against Alexandra Eala, followed by 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic against Alexandre Muller. No. 1 Sinner meets fellow Italian Luca Nardi at No. 1 Court.
AP sports writer Ken Maguire contributed to this story.
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