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French Open champion Alfie Hewett opened his Wimbledon wheelchair singles campaign against Joachim Gerard on Thursday but quickly found difficulties.
Bjorn Borg’s son Leo was also beaten 6-1, 6-2 in less than an hour by unseeded Vojtech Petr, 16, in the second round of the boys’ singles.
While Rafael Nadal confirmed he would return from his short break to play at the Citi Open in Washington, which begins later this month.
Here's Sportsmail's court recap of this summer's Championships so far...
Here's Sportsmail's court recap of this summer's Championships so far...
This was not in the script. In what could prove his final Championships, Britain’s Alfie Hewett fell at the first hurdle.
In his opening match of the wheelchair singles, the No 2 seed was beaten by world No 4 Joachim Gerard of Belgium. Hewett, a five-time Grand Slam champion, has never triumphed in the Wimbledon singles and lost 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 on Thursday to the Australian Open king.
After that disappointment, his hopes now rest on the doubles event where alongside Scotland’s Gordon Reid, Hewett is favourite for a fourth Wimbledon title. Then comes the Paralympics, but after the Games in Tokyo there could be a change to the classifications which would mean Hewett’s disability is no longer severe enough to compete.
