IMAGES from Day 1 of 2025 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, on Monday.
Alcaraz survives Fognini scare to begin Wimbledon defence
Holder Carlos Alcaraz blew hot and cold on a blazing Monday at Wimbledon but the Spaniard survived a massive scare to beat dangerous Italian Fabio Fognini 7-5, 6-7(5), 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 and reach the second round.
Alcaraz, bidding to become only the fifth man since tennis turned professional in 1968 to win three consecutive Wimbledon titles, arrived at the All England Club on an 18-match winning streak but the second seed looked out of sorts at times.
He recovered his level when it mattered most and prevailed to avoid becoming only the third defending champion to lose in the Wimbledon opening round after Manuel Santana in 1967 and Lleyton Hewitt in 2003.
A gracious Alcaraz led the tributes to Fognini in what was the 38-year-old's final Wimbledon appearance.
"First of all, I don't know why it's his last Wimbledon because the level he has shown, you know, he can still play three or four more years. It's unbelievable," Alcaraz said.
"He's a great player. I'm just a little bit sad ... but just happy to have lived and shared the court many times with him and in the locker room."
Alcaraz had to save a couple of break points at 2-1 down in the opening set and three more in his next service game before breaking for a 6-5 lead with a sublime drop shot followed by a lob as fans on Centre Court expected normal service to resume.
Fognini conceded the opening set but clawed his way back after surrendering his serve to force a tiebreak in the next and the veteran drew level at one set apiece when Alcaraz missed a simple passing shot at the net.
Alcaraz, who frequently reached for iced towels during the changeovers, regained his grip on the match by winning the third set despite more wobbles, only to lose the next and appeared rattled heading into the decider.
He moved through the gears, however, and pumped his fists after surging to a 3-0 lead and closed out the contest with no fuss after a lengthy break due to a spectator needing medical attention in the stands.
The wobbly display was a surprise for fans of the five-times major champion, who is now on a career-best winning streak after lifting titles in Rome, the French Open and at Queen's Club.
"Well, playing the first match on Centre Court, the first match of every tournament, it's never easy," Alcaraz said.
"I've been practising pretty well. I've been playing on grass really well but at Wimbledon it's special, it's different. I could feel the difference between Wimbledon and other events. I tried to play my best, to do the best that I could.
"But I can be better. I actually have to prove in the next round. I wanted to be better but, in general, I think it was a great match."
Up next for Alcaraz is a meeting with local qualifier Oliver Tarvet and the Spaniard said he expected another tough test.
"If he's in the second round, he deserves it. He has a great level. I have to be focused ... I'll try to do the things that I didn't work on today, the serve, the return. That's really quite important on grass."
Medvedev makes early exit
Daniil Medvedev found the roasting conditions and a French opponent who had not won a match on grass for three years too hot to handle on Monday as the ninth seed suffered a 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 loss to Benjamin Bonzi in the Wimbledon first round.
The Russian, who reached the semi-finals at the All England Club for the last two years, got all hot and bothered as Bonzi brought out what he described as his "A-game" to dispatch the 2021 US Open champion on Court Two, which felt like an oven throughout the three-hour match.
With Medvedev desperate to preserve his 100% record of reaching at least the second round at Wimbledon, he took out his frustrations on his racket, smashing it to the ground after Bonzi had got the better of him yet again in the third set.
But there was no respite for the former world number one.
"I was surprised by his level... there was not much I could do better," Medvedev told reporters.
"Every shot that I played today, even good shots, he had an answer. Today, he barely missed. When you're on fire, everything goes in.
"Whatever I did on the court, it was not bothering him too much. Everything he did was tough for me to play. I fought. I tried."
Sabalenka powers past Branstiine
Top seed Aryna Sabalenka overcame Canadian qualifier Carson Branstine on a sweltering Court One to get her quest for a first Wimbledon title up and running with a 6-1, 7-5 win on Monday.
With the thermometer soaring above 30 degrees Celsius, the Belarusian turned up the heat early to win the opening five games.
But Branstine, who juggles her time between the tennis courts and working as a model, earned loud applause when she got on the scoreboard and although Sabalenka eased to the first set, the second was an intense duel of fierce baseline rallies.
Sabalenka, seeded one at Wimbledon for the first time, usually overpowers her opponents with the sheer force of her game, but Branstine had firepower of her own.
The Canadian powered down several big aces as she stayed ahead in the second set but Sabalenka sensed her chance at 5-5 and broke serve by forcing her opponent to net a forehand.
Sabalenka wrapped up the win with a solid hold.
Raducanu wins all-British clash to advance
British women's number one Raducanu faced 17-year-old Welsh wildcard and debutant Mimi Xu on Monday.
Xu had not beaten a top 50 player and never looked likely to break that duck on Number One court as she went down 6-3 6-3.
Raducanu, desperate for a deep run in her home slam after a previous best of two fourth-round exits, did not have to do anything too extraordinary against a rival who for a while seemed intimidated by the occasion.
After Xu swung wildly for a rare air shot and then tumbled to the pristine turf after a slip, the 318th-ranked teen got what no young player wants to hear - some sympathy applause.
Raducanu swept to the first set, dropping only three points in her four service games, and with a lack of tension on court, the obligatory “come on Britain” shout drew the usual ripple of Wimbledon laughter usually reserved for any lingering pigeon.
Xu settled in the second set, however, finally getting to grips with the Raducanu serve during a run of five successive breaks, but the favourite got back on track to come through.
Keys fights back to move into second round
American Madison Keys did not let an ailing opponent or the furnace-like conditions on Wimbledon's Court 2 distract her from notching up a 6-7(4), 7-5, 7-5 victory over Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the first round of Wimbledon on Monday.
Keys's hopes of extending her perfect 10-0 first-round record at the All England Club appeared to be in jeopardy when her Romanian rival bagged the first set with some sizzling shots from the baseline.
However, despite wrapping ice towels around her neck during the changeovers, the intense heat appeared to get to Ruse in the second set. She called on the trainer, who escorted the Romanian off court for treatment after checking her blood pressure.
With the break lasting close to 10 minutes, Australian Open champion Keys opted to stay in the zone by hitting serves as she waited for her opponent to return to the court.
Trailing 5-3, the scorching 32-degrees Celsius heat caused Ruse further problems as she collapsed to the ground in agony clutching her right thigh, stricken by a bout of cramp.
Once she was free of pain, the world number 58 got back on her feet to level the set at 5-5 and stood two games away from toppling the sixth seed.
Keys then produced the kind of form that carried her to a maiden Grand Slam title in Melbourne earlier this year as she won four games on the trot to take the second set and surge into a 2-0 lead in the third.
As far as Ruse was concerned, desperate times called for desperate measures.
Facing further break points which would have left her trailing 3-0, Ruse whipped across an underarm serve that caught Keys by surprise as it landed on the outer edge of the line.
If the 30-year-old had secured the double break, it might well have been game over for Ruse.
Instead, Keys was broken when she served for the match at 5-4, doubling over the net after she raced forward to hit the ball on break point down.
It proved to be Ruse's last hurrah though as Keys was screaming out a deafening 'Come on' just two games later after sealing victory. She will next face Serbia's Olga Danilovic.
"Really tough match, she played really well, obviously she was suffering a few issues as it was quite toasty out here," Keys said courtside as she wiped beads of sweat off her face and shoulders. "My serve got me through that match."
Fonseca beats Fearnley to reach second round on debut
Fast-improving Brazilian Joao Fonseca knocked British hopeful Jacob Fearnley out in the first round at Wimbledon, with a confident 6-4, 6-1, 7-6(5) win, confirming his credentials as one of the most exciting young talents in tennis.
Fonseca, at 18 the youngest man in the men's singles draw and on his Wimbledon senior debut, used power and variety in his serve and his trademark brutal forehand to overpower 23-year-old Fearnley, who at 51 is ranked three places above the Brazilian.
Fonseca, knocked out in the first round of qualifying here last year, has raced up the tennis rankings, breaking into the top 100 at the Australian Open and reaching the third round at Roland Garros before losing to British number one Jack Draper.Less than two years ago he was playing in junior tournaments and caught the eye after reaching the boys' quarter-finals here and winning the 2023 boys' US Open.
"I've been working a lot," he said in an interview on a sun-drenched Court One.
"The key is work, believe and dream."
It was the Brazilian's third victory over his "great friend" Fearnley this year and he capitalised on some nervous and erratic serving from the Briton, who produced 10 double faults in the match often at crucial moments.
"At the beginning of the match we were both very nervous," Fonseca said.
"There were no rallies -- we were nervous"
Under pressure to match the free-hitting Fonseca, Fearnley served a double fault to concede the first set and was simply blown away in the second with the Brazilian whipping winners seemingly at will. The stats showed he finished the match with 29 winners to Fearnley's 16.
The British number two rallied in the third set and forced a tiebreak but the cool-headed Brazilian teenager pulled out two aces to bring up match point and won the game when the Briton put a return long.
Kartal gets British Wimbledon charge off to flying start
The biggest British assault on Wimbledon for 41 years got off to a great start when Sonay Kartal upset 20th seed and former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 7-5, 2-6, 6-2.
British tennis is enjoying a buoyant period, and although Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu are making most of the headlines, there are 23 Britons in the men's and women's singles this week, the most at Wimbledon since 1984.
Seven qualified directly through their top-100 world rankings, US-based collegiate player Oliver Tarvet came through qualifying, and a further 15 players were handed wildcards.
Raducanu, the biggest draw for the locals, takes on fellow Briton Mimi Xu, one off three teenage British wildcards in the draw, later on Number One Court.
Raducanu, Katie Boulter and Kartal were all in the top 50 last week, the first time three British women were ranked that highly since 1986.
Kartal got things going on a sun-drenched Court Three on Monday morning but struggled to find her range in the early games and quickly trailed 4-1. She finally gave the crowd something to cheer when she broke back for 4-5, and then spiritedly held serve.
Latvian Ostapenko, a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2018 and quarter-finalist last year, was losing her range and Kartal broke again before serving out for the set.
The crowd lapped it up, but Kartal’s quality immediately dropped off in the second set and Ostapenko, who beat the Briton in straight sets at Eastbourne last week, did not have to work too hard to take it 6-2.
Then it was Ostapenko's turn to lose her form, making some horrible errors amid regular chuntering at the crowd, as Kartal, 23, broke in the opening game and surged into a 5-0 lead.
Ostapenko finally stopped the rot but 51st-ranked Kartal held her nerve and served out impressively to take the decider 6-2.
Fourth seed Draper, one of 13 Britons in the men’s draw, is the biggest home hope since Andy Murray and kicks off his campaign against Argentine Sebastian Baez on Tuesday.
British qualifier Tarvet enjoys dream Wimbledon debut
British qualifier Oliver Tarvet enjoyed a dream Wimbledon debut with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Switzerland's Leandro Riedi and things could get even better for the 21-year-old with a likely Centre Court clash against defending champion Carlos Alcaraz next.
Tarvet, who came through three rounds of qualifying, thrilled a packed crown around Court Four with a majestic display to outclass fellow-qualifier Riedi.
Second-round losers are guaranteed 99,000 pounds ($135,000)in prize money, but because Tarvet is still a student at the University of San Diego he will miss out on a potentially career-changing windfall.
Because of his amateur status, the world number 719 will be entitled to only $10,000 plus any expenses he incurs.
Although that will hurt in the short term, such was the quality of Tarvet's game that he looked destined for a rapid rise in the rankings and he will likely turn professional after his final year of study in California.
Tarvet was the only British player to survive the qualifying tournament, joining 22 other home players in the singles draws, 14 of them wildcards.
