Wimbledon day 1, men’s roundup: Zverev, Tsitsipas stunned; solid win for defending champ Djokovic

Sixth seed Alexander Zverev and seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, both players tipped as potential champions this year, were stunned in the first round of the Wimbledon on Monday.

Zverev, 22, lost 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 to Czech qualifier Jiri Vesely, the world number 124.

“Everything outside the court affects you, I won’t get into details now, but the last couple of days have been very rough for me,” said Zverev who has never got beyond the last 16.

Just 15 minutes after Zverev’s defeat, 20-year-old Tsitsipas lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (8/10), 6-3 to world number 89 Thomas Fabbiano of Italy.

Tsitsipas had reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January and the last-16 at Roland Garros as well as the fourth round at Wimbledon last year.

“If I won today I would not have deserved it. It should have been over in three sets,” said Tsitsipas. “I feel devastated.”

Meanwhile, defending champion Novak Djokovic got his campaign for a fifth Wimbledon title off to a winning start on Monday, seeing off Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3, 7-5, 6-3.

Top seed and world No 1 Djokovic had to recover from early breaks in both of the first two sets as well as a nasty fall on the Centre Court grass.

Djokovic, chasing a 16th career Major, will faces Denis Kudla of the United States for a place in the last 32.

Canadian 18-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime kept ‘NextGen’ hopes alive by beating Canadian compatriot Vasek Pospisil 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3.

Victory made the 19th seed the first player born in the 2000s to win a match at Wimbledon.

Last year’s beaten finalist Kevin Anderson eased into the second round beating Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

The 33-year-old big serving South African’s season has been affected by a right elbow injury but was still promoted up the rankings to be seeded fourth by the organisers.

He made short shrift of Herbert, who will partner Britain’s former world No 1 Andy Murray in the doubles, dominating his opponent from the outset with his formidable serve and volley game.

Anderson will play either Serbian Janko Tipsarevic or Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka for a place in the last 32.

Stan Wawrinka, the 22nd seed, started with a good win beating Ruben Bemelmans 6-3 6-2 6-2 while 23rd seed Roberto Bautista Agut beat Peter Gojowczyk 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.

Meanwhile, Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez started with a win in a record extending 70th consecutive Grand Slam at Wimbledon.

The 37-year-old Spaniard, who had a remarkable Queen’s tournament winning both the singles and the doubles titles in over 15 hours of play in total, breezed into the second round on Monday beating American qualifier Marcos Giron 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.