Following the exits of Alcaraz and Sinner, two of the top players in the emerging tennis generation, Andy Murray, 37, left his fans wondering what role he would play at the All England Club.
Alcaraz defeated dreadlocked 269th-ranked qualifier Mark Lajal of Estonia 7-6 (7/3), 7-5, 6-2, recovering from breaks down in the first two sets.
The twenty-one-year-old Spaniard is going for his fourth Grand Slam victory and wants to be the sixth person to win Wimbledon and the French Open consecutively.
“Astonished me”
After starting the match on Center Court, Alcaraz remarked, “He played a really good match; he obviously surprised me a little bit because I did not get to see him play a lot.”
When we looked back at this time last year, Lajal was earning a pitiful $780 for losing a first-round match at a second-tier Challenger event in the United States; on Monday, he banked $75,000.
Sinner defeated Yannick Hanfmann of Germany 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, overcoming a wobble in the middle of the match to set up a match against fellow countryman and 2021 finalist Matteo Berrettini.
Sinner, a semifinalist the previous year, said, “He played really well, he was serving well, I missed a couple of shots.”
It was anticipated that Murray, the 2013 and 2016 champion, would decide whether to compete in singles at his final Wimbledon.
The former world champion acknowledged he still does not feel completely well in his leg after having a cyst on his spine surgically removed last week.
To give himself more time to decide, schedulers have given Murray the last spot on Center Court for his match against Tomas Machac on Tuesday. Murray will now make his decision on Tuesday.
Sabalenka, ranked third in the world and a two-time Wimbledon semifinalist, is one of eight players who have withdrew since the draw.
She had acknowledged that, following a shoulder injury at the Berlin Open, she was not fully recovered.
“Heartbroken to have to tell you all that I won’t be able to play in the championships this year,” wrote 26-year-old Sabalenka on X.
China’s world number eight Zheng Qinwen, the Australian Open runner-up, was the biggest casualty of the day, losing in the first round for a second successive year.
