It was a day of shocks at Wimbledon on Wednesday as former champions and American tennis legends Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, as well as rising star Marat Safin went crashing out of the tournament at the hands of three relative unknowns.
Individually, any of these losses would have been a surprise, but together they have sent shock waves across the All England Lawn and Tennis Club and left the door wide open for England number one Tim Henman to become the first English player to take the men’s title in 66 years.
Safin, Agassi and Sampras were the second, third and seventh seeds respectively. Sampras, who has won the Wimbledon men’s singles title a record seven times, was not one of the favourites this year. But few expected him to go out in the second round – his earliest Wimbledon exit in more than a decade – to Swiss player George Bastl in five sets.
He has vowed to return to Wimbledon in 2003, but after Wednesday’s performance, it looks as though he is already well past his majestic best.
Agassi, on the other hand, was a firm favourite to win this year, especially after cruising through his opening-round match in crisp, clean style. But on Wednesday his powers failed him as Thai player Paradorn Srichapan sent the American packing in straight sets. Paradorn’s victory puts him through to the third round for the first time in his four outings at Wimbledon.
But Marat Safin’s defeat was perhaps the greatest shock of all. The 6ft 4in Russian, a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon in 2001, was practically built for Wimbledon’s serve-and-volley style of tennis, but he was out-foxed by 5ft 5in Belgian Olivier Rochus. “Whatever I did, it was wrong,” he said. “Bad day at the office. I couldn’t play. I tried… But I couldn’t do anything.”
