Wimbledon, Stefanos Tsitsipas suffers but moves on

Beat a combative Ritschard in four sets

Far from easy victory in the first round of the Wimbledon men’s tournament for Stefanos Tsitsipas: his opponent, Switzerland’s Alexander Ritschard (from the qualifiers, No. 188 Atp), did not care about the totally unfavorable prognostication and gave the current world fifth player a hard time, forcing him to play 3 hours and 34 minutes before closing in four sets, 7-6(1), 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.

In the second round, Tsitsipas will face an opponent at least on paper more complicated than today’s: it is Australian Jordan Thompson (No. 76 Atp), who beat Roberto Carballes-Baena 6-4, 6-1, 6-1.

This year’s edition of Wimbledon will exceptionally not award points valid for Atp and Wta rankings. The world’s two professional tennis circuits have distanced themselves from the decision by the London Slam organizers to ban Russian and Belarusian tennis players from participating because of the war in Ukraine, a move branded a “dangerous precedent” by the Atp. Among the most penalized tennis players is Novak Djokovic, winner in 2021.