Roger Federer's fall punctuates madness at Wimbledon

UTTER mayhem. Tennis carnage on a scale never seen before. Call it what you will, but spectators on day three of Wimbledon were left reeling.

TENNIS-GBR-WIMBLEDON

UTTER mayhem. A blood-bath. Tennis carnage on a scale never seen before. Call it what you will, but spectators on day three of Wimbledon were left reeling from the first match to the last.

First it was Lleyton Hewitt, bundled out by a little known German-Jamaican challenger circuit player, Dustin Brown, then it was Maria Sharapova outgrunted by the biggest grunter of all, Michelle Larcher de Brito then Jo-Wilfried Tsonga succumbing to a wrist and knee injury. The womens No2 Victoria Azarenka had to withdraw after slipping on the court, then Marin Cilic.

But the biggest shock in the most extraordinary day of losses, complaints and withdrawals was the dramatic upset departure of the emperor of the tennis world, that of the defending champion and seven time Wimbledon winner Roger Federer.

Never has there been a day so early in the first week of the Wimbledon tournament where the great have fallen so quickly and dramatically. Cilic, the No10 seed, described it thus: “it was a very black day”.

But the blackest was for Federer, playing on centre court and in the midst of a record breaking 36 straight Grand Slam quarter finals appearances, who was befuddled by the magic of Ukranian Sergiy Stakhovsky, who controlled the net play to dominate the Swiss  6-7 7-6 7-5 7-6.

“I can tell my grandchildren I kicked the butt of Roger Federer,” said Stakhovsky.

While some of the hushed spectators started speculating about the end of an era, Federer said he wasn’t going to panic. He was adamant he still plans to play “for many years to come” and would look forward to next year.

“I don’t think fans are going to mourn about it, or myself, I won’t mourn, I will do the 24 hour rule, don’t panic at this point, just go back to work,” Federer said.

“It is always a disappointment, it was a tough loss.”

Stakhovsky said playing Federer was like playing two men, that of Federer the man and Federer the legend and an hour after the result he was still feeling numb. He had deliberately tried to upset the defending champion’s rhythm with his serve and volley game.

“I am still in disbelief it happened, I played the best tennis I have ever played, I am incredibly happy,” said Stakhovsky.

“I really don’t know how I did it, it was magic, it was a fantastic day for me.”

Earlier Maria Sharapova complained to the match referee that the Wimbledon court was too dangerous after buckling her knee three times and falling on the slippery outside edges of the grass surface in her unexpected defeat to 131st ranked Larcher de Brito.

But the Russian four time Grand Slam champion said the loose footing wasn’t entirely to blame for her astonishing loss – one of several during day three of the tournament that also featured near double digit numbers of withdrawals from injuries.

Said Sharapova:” I've just never fallen that many times in a match before.Those are the conditions that are there for my opponent, as well.  I just took a lot more falls than she did today.”

Certainly Wimbledon officials were left defending the condition of the grass surface. The chief executive of the All England Club Richard Lewis said there was no reason to believe the high number of withdrawals could be blamed on the surfaces, which were identical to last year and as dry and firm as they should be.

 “The court preparation has been to exactly the same meticulous standard as in previous years and it is well known that grass surfaces tend to be more lush at the start of an event,” said Lewis.

Hewitt’s departure was also due to  strong serve and volley game of Brown, ranked 189th in the world, and his towering height that was so effective in coverage of the net for his second round loss 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-2.

“It's tough,” said Hewitt, adding “You don't know what's going to happen next.  You have to concentrate on your game, block that out as much as possible. You lose your rhythm a bit out there.  Then I started pushing on my serve a little bit too much to try to get a cheap point.  Yeah, I just lost my way a little bit.”

But while Hewitt didn’t notice anything amiss with the slipperiness of the surface, others were skating.

Seven players dropped out Wednesday including the women’s No2 and Australian Open star Azarenka who said “the court was not in good condition”, the men’s No6  Tsonga withdrew mid-match, and Steve Darcis, was unable to start believing he injured his shoulder when he conquered Rafael Nadal in the  first round.

“I think adrenaline got me through against Rafa. I was serving great during the match. So I don't know why it was so bad after,” said Darcis.

But others to withdraw mid match with injuries were lanky American John Isner, Czech player Radek Stepanek and Kazahkstan's Yaroslava Shvedova. Even Australia’s big hope Bernard Tomic withdrew before the start of his doubles match citing a slight hamstring strain, but believed to be more of a precaution for his singles preparation.