They were twenty in the first round – sixteen for men, four for women – but no one will see the round of 16. France lost, one by one, all its representatives of the 2023 edition of the Wimbledon tennis tournament, culminating in the defeats, Friday, July 7, of Caroline Garcia and Varvara Gracheva in the women’s category, and of Quentin Halys , Alexandre Müller and Adrian Mannarino, in the men’s draw.
Garcia was the last tricolor in the running to be able to qualify, and the world number 5 seemed to have the match in hand against the Czech Marie Bouzkova (33rd) whom she walked to the four corners of the London courts (number 18 then number 1 after dark). But with 53 faults, the 29-year-old Lyonnaise wasted far too much to win her opponent who applied himself to commit only fourteen faults.
Fatigue is perhaps not for nothing since the French had already played a 2:31 match in the second round on Thursday, concluded in the super-tie break of the third set, and had to continue on her third round on Friday in due to the delay in the programming caused by the rain which disrupted the tournament during the first three days.
On arrival, it was Bouzkova, who had already eliminated Garcia last year but in the round of 16, who moved on to the second week after a success in three sets 7-6 (7/0), 4-6, 7-5.
“In the end, it’s frustrating and sad. The match, I tried to get it, to do things. She’s a girl I’ve never been successful with in the past and I’ve never been so close to winning against her,” said Caroline Garcia. “It hurts, especially since it’s still a match that is not played much that I can’t manage to tip in my favor”, lamented the French player who does not manage to regain her level of confidence and success of the second part of last year.
“Last year in those times, I managed to do great things. This year for the moment it does not turn in my favor but it is by continuing that it will turn, ”she concluded.
Gracheva did not go far from the feat
Friday started with a bang when Varvara Gracheva, of Russian origin and naturalized French in early June, looked like she could beat world number 2 Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka in a second-round match. Gracheva (41st) found himself in the game of victory, leading 6-2, 5-4, but the meeting suddenly swung in favor of his opponent.
Sabalenka then won seven points in a row to equalize at 5-5 and afford three break points on the French serve. She converted the second and served at 6-5 to take the game into a third set. In this decisive set, she took the service of Gracheva to lead 2-1 and fly to victory with the score of 2-6, 7-5, 6-2.
“It was crazy… She played incredibly well and I’m very happy to have won,” said Aryna Sabalenka, semi-finalist in 2021 and banned from the tournament last year due to her nationality and the war in Ukraine.
Medvedev and Alcaraz enforce logic
Less close to the feat, Quentin Halys (79th), who reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, will nevertheless be able to boast of being the first to have taken a set from the Italian Jannik Sinner (8th) on the London turf this year. But last year’s quarter-finalist turned things around and won 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.
“I proved that against one of the best I could be on the level,” noted Halys. “It will boost confidence and give me ideas to go to work,” he added.
On the other hand, the march was too high for Adrian Mannarino (35th), in the second round against Daniil Medvedev (3rd), and for Alexandre Müller (84th), also in the second round, against world number 1, Carlos Alcaraz.
In a match started the day before and interrupted by the night at 6-3, 6-3, 4-4 for Medvedev, Mannarino seemed able to push his opponent a little more to his limits on the restart. “When he plays well, he plays at Top 5 level, but sometimes he misses easy shots. So I’m happy to have won in three sets,” commented the 27-year-old Russian who eventually won 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).
Müller was logically dominated by Alcaraz. “I won my first game here, I had a good game on the Central against the world number 1… All is well”, enumerated the Frenchman. He hung on but couldn’t prevent Alcaraz from winning for the first time in his career on the legendary Center Court, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.
“It was my second match on this court where I lost last year. I wanted to take advantage of it and I did,” said the 20-year-old Spaniard, who does not hide his ambitions to win the tournament.
Djokovic in search of a new record
Novak Djokovic, in search of a 24th Grand Slam title to equal Margaret Court’s absolute record, does not see it that way and qualified for the round of 16 by dominating the Swiss Stan Wawrinka (88th) 6-3 , 6-1, 7-6 (7/5). After very quietly winning the first two sets, the Serb was hooked in the third and finished just minutes before the 11 p.m. curfew came into force. He got out in time and will face the Pole Hubert Hurkacz (18th) for a place in the quarterfinals.
With this success, Djokovic notched a 31st victory in a row at Wimbledon, since losing in the quarterfinals in 2017. He has since gone unbeaten with four consecutive titles. A fifth, on July 16, would allow her to equal Roger Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon titles, one length short of Martina Navratilova’s all-time record.
