Early Wimbledon Exits for Tatjana Maria and Yannick Hanfmann

Tatjana Maria and Yannick Hanfmann Make Early Wimbledon Exits

No one can take away Tatjana Maria's Wimbledon fairy tale from 2022. However, a year later, Germany's number one player stumbled at the first hurdle, providing her opponent with a satisfying revenge. Yannick Hanfmann also faced disappointment after a long wait and a thrilling tennis encounter.

Last year's semifinalist, Tatjana Maria, was knocked out in the opening round at Wimbledon. The German top seed suffered a 1-6, 6-2, 3-6 defeat against Sorana Cirstea from Romania in the rainy conditions of London. Maria became the second German tennis player to miss out on reaching the second round in this grass court classic.

Two days earlier, Anna-Lena Friedsam had already been eliminated, and on July 4th, no matches involving German players were held due to rain. In 2022, Maria had defeated Cirstea in the second round in three sets.

Tatjana Maria Struggles to Find her Rhythm

The long wait due to rain seemed to affect Maria negatively. The 35-year-old initially struggled to find her rhythm and quickly fell behind 1-5. The match was then interrupted for over an hour due to the inclement weather. During the break, Maria regrouped herself. Although she lost the first set after the interruption with a score of 1-6, the two-time mother transformed her game after another rain delay of about half an hour and won the second set 6-2.

However, Maria, who had reached the semifinals last year, losing to Ons Jabeur in three sets, was unable to maintain the same level of play. Cirstea quickly secured a break in the deciding set, and after 1 hour and 37 minutes, the Romanian converted her first match point.

Yannick Hanfmann Falls Short after Lengthy Interruption against Taylor Fritz

Yannick Hanfmann narrowly missed causing an upset. The 31-year-old from Karlsruhe lost to the ninth-seeded American Taylor Fritz in a five-set thriller, with a final score of 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, exiting the tournament in the first round.

The match was suspended on the evening of July 3rd when Fritz led 3-2 in the fifth set due to darkness. It remained incomplete the following day due to continuous rainfall in London. Hanfmann and Fritz had to endure another long wait on July 5th due to the inclement weather. When the match resumed, Hanfmann suffered an early break at 3-5 and ultimately conceded defeat after a total of three hours.

Alexander Zverev Requires Patience

Olympic champion Alexander Zverev conducted a brief training session in drizzling rain in the morning, but for him and all the other players, it was a waiting game once again. Zverev's first-round match against Dutch qualifier Gijs Brouwer was scheduled for the late afternoon.

The second-round encounter between Nuremberg qualifier Maximilian Marterer and American player Michael Mmoh was rescheduled for July 6th due to time delays.