Sympathy was in short supply for Wimbledon’s walking wounded on Tuesday after back-to-back retirements robbed Centre Court fans of what should have been a blockbuster double bill featuring Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. The 15,000-strong crowd drew a collective gasp as within the space of 70 minutes Martin Klizan and Alexandr Dolgopolov called it quits in their first round matches against Djokovic and Federer, respectively — leaving the Centre Court schedule done and dusted by 4:50 p.m. local time.
Since Klizan and Dolgopolov appeared to have carried injuries into their matches, which meant they must have known they might not last the distance on Tuesday, many observers accused them of being selfish as they short-changed fans and denied fully-fit players a place in the draw. “There’s got to be a rule for guys who come out clearly not giving or able to give 100 percent. It’s no good for anyone,” tennis great John McEnroe said while commentating on the BBC. “There are guys waiting in there, the lucky loser will be looking … and thinking he could have played on Centre Court at Wimbledon.” Before day two of the championships had even been completed, seven players had thrown in the towel.
Australian Nick Kyrgios was the first to pull out on Monday after failing to recover from a hip injury he aggravated at London’s Queen’s Club two weeks ago. Denis Istomin and Viktor Troicki followed suit before Klizan, Dolgopolov, Janko Tipsarevic and Queen’s Club champion Feliciano Lopez also quit.
For many of the fringe players on the tour, featuring in the first round of a grand slam allows them to pick up what could be their biggest pay-cheque of the year. With first-round Wimbledon losers banking 35,000 pounds ($45,216.50) this year, some wondered if the sums of money at stake were the deciding factor on why unfit players turned up. “It’s a lot of money. For some it’s more, for some it’s less,” said seven-times Wimbledon champion Federer. The Swiss, whose first round workout lasted a mere 43 minutes before Dolgopolov retired while trailing 6-3 3-0 30-30, felt the grand slams should look into adopting a financial compensation system that is in place on the ATP Tour.
“On the ATP level… if you can’t play, you still get your prize money twice in the year. Maybe the grand slams should adopt some of that, then maybe we would eliminate half of the players (who turn up injured),” said Federer, the favourite to win a record eighth title. “A player should not go on court if he knows he could not finish. The question is, did they truly believe they were going to finish? If they did, I think it’s okay that they walk on court. Otherwise, I feel they should give up the spot.”
