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LONDON, 2 Jul (AP) \u2014 Carlos Alcaraz already owns three Grand Slam titles, including from Wimbledon a year ago, and yet he spoke after his opening victory at this year\u2019s edition of the tournament about feeling nervous before setting foot on Centre Court, despite going up against a player who never before had played at any major tournament.<\/p>\n
Coco Gauff, the reigning U.S. Open champion and a French Open runner-up two years ago, said after her win in the same stadium that, sure, she\u2019s played \u201con a lot of big courts,\u201d but each time she competes on that particular patch of grass, \u201cIt\u2019s the most nervous I ever feel playing tennis \u2014 even more than playing a Grand Slam final.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why would such accomplished athletes still get the jitters? Especially in the first round, which was scheduled to wrap up Tuesday at the All England Club, and in what should, in theory, be their easiest contests over what they hope will be a two-week stay in the bracket? Turns out that tennis players, almost uniformly, insist that initial matches at one of their sport\u2019s four most prestigious events \u2014 the Australian Open in January, the French Open in May, Wimbledon in late June or early July, and the U.S. Open in August \u2014 give them reason to worry, no matter how many times they\u2019ve won at that stage.<\/p>\n
And Marketa Vondrousova showed precisely why on Tuesday: She became the first defending women\u2019s champion at Wimbledon to lose in the first round the following year, eliminated 6-4, 6-2 by 83rd-ranked Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, someone who never had won a Grand Slam match.<\/p>\n
Afterward, Vondrousova acknowledged being \u201cnervous from the start.\u201d<\/p>\n
Happens a lot, it seems.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would lie if I would say I\u2019m not nervous, because everybody is, I think. There is a lot of pressure, especially when you play well and you already know that you can achieve this step; people are expecting it to happen again and again and again,\u201d said Iga Swiatek, who just won her fifth major championship at the French Open and is seeded No. 1 at Wimbledon. \u201cYou need that stress to get you on the right level of motivation and readiness.\u201d<\/p>\n
That stress, though, tends to dissipate over the course of the tournament, which is counterintuitive, given that opponents should be getting tougher and the stakes growing greater as the days go by.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always feel a lot more nervous during the first round of Slams, just because I want to do well so badly, and the first round is the first round, so you kind of almost feel like the tournament didn\u2019t even start and you\u2019re out if you lose,\u201d four-time major champion Naomi Osaka said. \u201cThat\u2019s, for me, what I feel. Growing up, the Slams were the tournaments that I watched on TV the most. I just want to be here for as long as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sense that these events mean more than others has only been heightened in recent years.<\/p>\n
Wimbledon and the other majors get the most attention in the sport, without a doubt, both from TV broadcasters and viewers, sponsors and spectators. Players are well aware of that, and some, such as Novak Djokovic, make clear that they know accumulating those particular trophies make all the difference.<\/p>\n
He has 24 of them. And the folks seeking their first tend to feel the same way.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery match, you want to win. But Slams can change your life, your legacy. This is where it really counts,\u201d said Frances Tiafoe, who is seeded 29th at Wimbledon and dropped the first two sets on Monday against Matteo Arnaldi before coming all the way back to win. \u201cFirst round is always tough, whether you\u2019re feeling good going in. Or not feeling good. Or in-between. You just want to get through that first round and then you settle in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fifth-seeded Jessica Pegula has reached the quarterfinals at majors six times, including at Wimbledon in 2023, and had a much easier time than Tiafoe in the first round, needing all of 49 minutes to get past Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-0 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
But Pegula was not looking forward to that match. Not at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst rounds suck. There\u2019s a lot of anxiety. There\u2019s this buildup. Everyone wants to win a Grand Slam. You\u2019re thinking, \u2018This is the one.\u2019 You want to do the best you can to prep. There\u2019s more media. And you have no base of where anything is. How the courts are truly playing. All those little things kind of go into it. It\u2019s hectic,\u201d Pegula said. \u201cOnce the first match gets out of the way, everyone takes a deep breath and you\u2019re like, \u2018OK, I\u2019m good now.\u2019 You know what to expect. But in the first round, you don\u2019t have that. And you don\u2019t want to go home the first day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of what can get into the heads of higher-ranked players is the notion that not only are they hoping to through the first round, but everyone else is expecting that outcome, too.<\/p>\n
Essentially, it\u2019s this thought: What will the world think if I lose this match?<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s not that much expectation on you, no one\u2019s really going to think twice if you lose in the first round,\u201d said Taylor Fritz, the No. 13 seed. \u201cGoing out in the first round, you\u2019re thinking how it would be the worst thing ever. It\u2019s a weird thing. It comes and goes. I\u2019ve had times where I\u2019ve been so nervous for the first round, and then I\u2019ve had times where I\u2019m not nervous at all. When you\u2019re feeling confident, as soon as you step on that court, if you feel good for the first couple of games, it all goes away. But if you come out a little tight, and things aren\u2019t going your way, it\u2019s not great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alcaraz tries to shake off his nerves by trying \u201cto disconnect,\u201d he said, and not focus too much on the task at hand in the hours prior to a match. A day before facing \u2014 and defeating \u2014 269th-ranked qualifier Mark Lajal of Estonia at Wimbledon, Alcaraz played a round of golf to try relax.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that helps me a lot to turn off my mind a little bit, not to think about the match the day before,\u201d Alcaraz said. \u201cHelps me a lot to stay calm.\u201d<\/p>\n
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