Wimbledon 2023: Alcaraz and Rybakina in action as rain hits on day ...

Key events

Show key events only

Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature

Before we go any further, I’d like to welcome our US audience, many of whom are just starting their day. So to recap, it’s raining in London, of course it is, so we’ve got play on the courts with roofs: the defending women’s champ, Elena Rybakina, is a set down to Shelby Rogers, while Carlos Alcaraz, the men’s world no1, leads Jeremy Chardy 6-0 6-2 2-3.

And there it is! An ace secures Shelby a 6-4 set, and the champ is in shtuck.

Shelby Rogers has only played one match on grass this season – she lost to Camila Osorio, a qualifier, at Eastbourne – but ranked 49 in the world, she’s close to as bad a first-round draw as you can get, and she’s currently serving for the first set…

No play before 2.45pm BST on outside courts

And I’m afraid the prognosis has worsened.

Photograph: Met Office

Rybakina guides a fine forehand return down the line that gives her 40-30, but Rogers closes out from there and at 5-3, the champ will now serve to stay in the first set.

Elena Rybakina is behind in the opening set against Shelby Rogers on Centre Court. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

We see aerial shots that suggest we’re nowhere near clear of rain, though in fabulous north London it’s clear. Yup, and as I type that we see it’s nasty as out there, but on Centre Shelby Rofgers doesn’t mind; she hangs onto another service game through deuce then forces Rybakina to work hard for her hold, and leads 4-3. Meantime, Chardy and Alcaraz are 1-1 in set two, Alcaraz having breezed to a 2-0 lead.

“Your talk of Marcelo Ríos reminded me of the great clay-court specialist de mes jours - Thomas Muster,” says Darrien Bold. “The Austrian won 12 titles in 1995, 11 of which were on clay including the French, but he didn’t even play Wimbledon that year. He only turned up to SW19 on 4 occasions, and never won a match on the green stuff.”

What I remember most about Muster is him being hit by a drunk driver, jiggering his knee ligaments in the process, and having a special chair made so he could still practise while recovering.

Alcaraz wants to be home in time for 15-1. He holds to love, securing the second set and a 6-0 6-2 lead.

Oh, apologies; I took a pre-match comfort break and missed Roger Federer arriving into the royal box, to a suitable standing ovation. Imagine, though, how relieved Mirka is that he’s retired – at the last count, she had, I believe, spent 21 years 5 months of her life clapping, working her way through 92,730 pairs of palms in the process.

Roger Federer. Legendarily good at tennis. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

Big hold from Rogers who leads Rybakina 3-1, and I guess I’m going to focus more on that match now, given we’ve a suspicion how the other one’ll go. On Centre, Alcarath will shortly serve for set two at 6-0 5-2.

Rybakina is on the board, trailing Rogers 2-1 in set one, while Alcaraz now leads Chardy 6-0 4-1. The footage I can see makes me think it’s still drizzling a bit – some umbrellas but not loads – the kind of weather in which they might stay out, but won’t start. Hopefully we’ll get some news shortly, because this morning’s main matches were on a rolling boil.

“In Series 2 of Barbecue Showdown,” says Colin Stevens, “I loved the fact that very early on contestant [redacted] was on the verge of walking out as a result of one of his barbecues going badly wrong. He only carried on as a result of the encouragement & support of fellow contestant [redacted]. Spool forward to the final & what do we see [redacted].”

The camaraderie is so great and uplifting. Lucky we’re all part of the barbecue community.

Barbecue Showdown. Life affirming. Photograph: Courtesy of Netflix

Felicitations Jérémy! He holds and the crowd patronise a 36-year-old former grand slam quarter-finalist, cheering away as he smiles ruefully. Meantime on Centre, Rogers has broken Rybakina in the first game.

Alcaraz makes deuce with a characteristically luscious job, breezes through deuce, and breaks again for 6-0 1-0; Chardy is hating this, and I can’t help but think of Stefan Edberg triple-bagelling Stefan Eriksson in the first round of Wimbledon 1987. It was only the third of its kind at a slam in the Open era and the first at SW19; since then there’ve been two others, Ivan Lendl edging Barry Moir later that year in New York and Sergi Brugera pipping Thierry Champion at Roland-Garros 1993. Oh, and Alcaraz has held again for 6-0 2-0.

Rogers and Rybakina arrive onto Centre, and if the champ is healthy – she struggles with an allergy through May, and this year reduced immune system meant she ended up with a virus – she’s a serious threat to retain her title. To do so, though, she might have to beat Jabeur in the quarters and Sabalenka in the semis; I’m salivating already at the thought of those matches.

Alcaraz holds to 15, and that’s the bagel. Chardy could be forgiven for thinking maybe now would be the perfect time to call it a career.

Bagel, sir? Photograph: Alamy

During Roland-Garros, Mac noted that though Boom Boom Bozzer was the best teenager he’s ever seen, Alcaraz is the best 20-year-old he’s ever seen – Boris struggled a bit after his second Wimbledon – and I can’t think of many I’ve seen, if any, who hit the ball with as much pace and spin as he does. And without the kind of competition the big three have had, if he stays fit and focused, he’ll win a silly quantity of slams. He leads 4-0 and Chardy is learning that you can’t play someone of such calibre on a retirement tour; yet another double, at 0-40, means 5-0, and this is almost painful to watch.

Not a bad start from the number one seed. Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Images

Since losing to Dan Evans in the second round of the Aussie Open, Chardy hasn’t won a set and already you can see why. In particular, he’s struggling with is toss, so that when Alcaraz consolidates, two more doubles mean he’s to go through deuce for his hold. And he can’t Alcaraz’s forehand taking care of the double break, and it’s just absurd how ridiculous he is. He leads 3-0 and I don’t want to wish our lives away, but imagine what a final we’ll get if it’s him and Djokovic.

No play on outside courts before 2pm BST

But the weather should improve thereafter.

Security shelter from the rain on No 2 Court. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images

Chardy, playing his last tournament before retirement, has the fam with him, and promptly makes himself the butt of all their jokes, serving two doubles in the course of being broken in the first game.

And off we go!

Yup, out they are. We’re about 10 minutes away from tennisI’d say, and it’s a little brighter all around the All England club – and, full disclosure, raining in fabulous north London.

We’re a minute away from something happening – we should have Alcarath and Chardy out on No1 very soon.

Let’s roll. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA

Oh my days, what a headline this is.

Though these blogs exist to cover sport, they also exist for us to share the good stuff, so here’s one for today – and please feel free to send in your own: Barbecue Showdown on Netflix. I can’t say it isn’t annoying in parts because ultimately I require painstaking detail on rubs, sauces and cooking, but in both serieses they’ve put together a great group of contestants all of whom you root for, whose wins and losses you’re moved by, and the chemistry between them and the judges is excellent. Do it, I promise.

Ah man, exactly what this rain break needs: a lovely mazal tov. So mazal tov to Ash Barty and Garry Kissick, who’ve had a baby boy, Hayden.

Isa is properly going for it with her “Alcarath”, and rightly so. I hope we can rely on her for more of this.

Carlos Alcarath Alcaraz poses for a photo with a fan. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA

It’s looking a bit brighter now; there are plenty on Court 2 without umbrellas, so hopefully we’re away all over within the next hour.

We start on Court 1 at 1pm BST, so 23 minutes from now, with Carlos Alcaraz v Jeremy Chardy, and on Centre at 1.30pm BST with Shelby Rogers v Elena Rybakina.

Email! “Re Calv Betton on Stefanos and Thiem, “ begins Kerrtih Britland,”is there some general consensus on why top players can’t/won’t/don’t adapt to grass? It feels as if past generations (I’m including Roger, Rafa, Novak in this) didn’t mind it, while a lot of players now pigeonhole themselves (looking at you, Daniil) to a particular surface.

Furthering this, grass god Rog’s record on clay was pretty good - he was beaten by Nadal in four or five consecutive RG finals. Likewise Nadal adapted to the grass even though his game was built for clay (more than anyone currently on tour, probably).”

I guess relatively few players grow up on grass and the season is short, so if you’re planning a career, it probably makes more sense, professionally and financially, to focus elsewhere. In which case, we probably can’t look at two of the greatest ever to play the game as examples of what can be done, as they’re not worrying about making money or getting into competitions, they’re trying to win them and know they’ve the ability to do that. Other hand, Medvedev and Tsitsipas are trying to get good enough to win majors on their main surfaces.

Oh, and it’s also worth noting that when I were a lad, there were players who just missed Wimbledon – Andre Agassi and Marcelo Rios, say – although in fairness, the courts then were much faster, so much harder for those schooled in other conditions.

Ach, the dreaded words – “set-in”, most commonly spoken by Michael Atherton during the cricket – have been uttered at Wimbledon. Far be it from me to note that in north London, it is, of course, drier than the Tory party conference.

We do, of course, have other sport for you:

Yup, nets down and covers on, so let’s go around the courts and update some scores: Thiem leads Tsitsipas 6-3 3-4 on serve; Brengle leads Errani 6-3 3-0; Pera leads Tomova 7-6(3) 0-1; Shelton leads Daniel 6-4 4-2; Fucsovic leads Griekspoor 6-4 3-1; Potapova leads Naef 6-3 3-3; Alexandrova leads Navarro 6-4 5-2; and Saville leads Boulter 6-5.

It's raining and play is suspended

I’m not sure we’ll get much action until Centre and Court 1 are away, unless we move matches to there.

Well done Lorenzo Sonego! His good friend Berrettini nets and that’s the first set to him 7-6(4)! I think we may be here a while, this has the makings of an epic.

A backhand error from Loffhagen gives Rune a further mini-break and we’re now at 5-4; and look at that! Songeo whumps a forehand down the line for 6-5 and set point on serve right as Rune glides a gorgeous volley into the corner that gives him the first set 7-6(4). Loffhagen, though, is playing really well – he’s miles better than his 371 ranking.

Rune moves from a mini-break down to a mini-break up, but Loffhagen plants a really good backhand slice onto his tootsies to snatch it back and make 3-3. Meantime, Sonego has also retrieved Berrettini’s advantage and now leads 5-3…

Holger Rune in action during the first set tie-break. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

It’s difficult for Rune, but he holds to 30 and here comes our first-set breaker; Loffhagen begins it with a service winner whole, on Court 12, Sonego shanks a forehand to give Berrettini the mini-break at 3-1. On 2, Thiem leads Tsitsipas 6-3 2-2.

Massive hold for Loffhagen, who has to battle through deuce but now leads Rune 6-5, whole Berrettini also holds, meaning he and Sonego will now play a breaker.

Gosh, this doesn’t look great, does it? At least we won’t get yesterday’s hour-long Centre Court break, as i imagine the roof won’t open, but we’ll likely have ourselves a backlog into tomorrow.

Photograph: Met Office

Loffhagen is still competing well against Rune – they’re at 5-5 in set one; Fucsovics has taken the first set off Griekspoor, the 28 seed, 6-4;Shelton, seeded 32, leads Daniel 6-4 2-0; Potapova, the 22 seed in the women’s competition, leads Naef 6-3; and Saville leads Boulter 4-3.. Oh, and Songeo hangs on for 6-5, so Berrettini will now serve for a breaker.

I just saw Mario Berretttini hit a drive backhand! Swear down! It was cross-court so, I think, a bit easier for him than down the line, but still. If he could do that on a regular and with consistency, he’d be a major champion already; if he can learn, he’s got plenty of time. But serving at 5-5 15-30, Songeo runs around the backhand to drill a winner, also line … only for a bad bounce on a decent return to elicit an error and raise break point. No matter: Sonego slams down an ace and we’re back at deuce.

Tsitsipas has just started served out for 3-5; Thiem will now try and secure the opening set. “This is impossible to call cos they’re both crap on grass and both in terrible form,” says Calv Betton. spent all year trying to get seeded at Wimbledon so he could have a better draw, ended up not getting it and got the best draw imaginable. If he’d got a low seeding he’d have to faced one of the top players in round 3. Now he’ll beat Tsitsipas and take the 5th seed position in the draw instead.” Thiem raises two set points with an ace, then goes long so here he goes again at 40-30 … and Tsitsipas goes long on the backhand! Thiem leads 6-3!

It’s stopped raining and off we go again, the All England microclimate changing once more.

Boulter has broken Saville … oh and Saville has broken back for 2-2. But what’s this? Er, I’m afraid it’s raining. Centre and Court 1 have roofs closed, so I wonder if they’ll move a couple of matches to there – I think Tistsipas said he’s happy for that – but they’ll want to know it’s worth the logistical aggro before they schlep everyone over, which will presumably be contingent on how long they think the weather will last.

Katie Boulter breaks her opponent….and then the rain comes. Photograph: Zac Goodwin/PA

Ohhhhh yessssss! Up 3-2 and advantage, Thiem is sent wide by a second serve and absolutely smokes a trademarked backhand return down the line for the break! He leads 4-2 and in the time it takes me to update that, consolidates to love! Thiem leads Tsitsipas 5-2!

George Loffhagen, currently 2-2 with Rune, is a good player and a good lad who wasn’t sure he wanted to be a tenniser. So he took a year off the game, discovered he loved it, so is back playing. “He’s the best athlete we’ve had in British tennis in about 15 years,” writes Calvin Betton, our resident coach. “Amazing balance. He’s got a lovely backhand. His forehand is a bit gippy though.” He’s also saved three break points in the time it took me type that making it six in total so far – his forehand is working well, especially top-spin, cross-court – and he holds for 4-4.

We’re on serve all over, Thiem looking to extend the points to try and create more of a clay-court kind of match; he and Tsitsipas are 1-1. Elsewhere it’s Berrettini 2-2 Sonego, Loffhagen 2-1 Rune and Boulter 0-1 Saville.

Stefanos Tsitsipas serves to Dominic Thiem on a quiet No 2 Court. Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP

As we start day two, let’s quickly recall the end of day one, which was a right buzz. First, Michael Mmoh delivered the win of his life to see off an admittedly injured Felix Auger-Aliassime, then Sofia Kenin announced her re-emergence as a serious factor, binning Coco Gauff in the best match we’ve seen so far – but what a brutal draw that was for the no7 seen.

On Court 2, Tsitsipas opts to receive as per the vogue and we’ll soon be away.

I’m trying to decide which matches to watch – why do bad things happen to good people? Obviously Thiem v Tsitsipas [5], and then I think I’ll go for some UK interest – Loffhagen v Rune [6] and Boulter v Saville – along with Berrettini v Sonego.

There’s a load of traffic around Wimbledon, apparently, so crowds might be sparse to begin with. Our kingdom for a joined-up, competent and fairly-priced train service.

Preamble

Morning all and welcome to Wimbledon 2023 – day two!

Goodness me, there’s an absolutely indecent amount of glorious tennis awaiting us as we draw relentlessly, remorselessly closer to death. Opening proceedings on Court 2, we’ve got Dominic Thiem v Stefanos Tsitsipas, a ridiculous first-round pairing if ever there was one, with the winner of that moving on to meet Ryan Peniston ... or Andy Murray, their match second on Centre.

Before that, though, Elena Rybakina begins her defence of the women’s crown with a potentially nasty encounter against Shelby Rogers – and how fit is she after withdrawing from both the French Open and Rothesay International with illness? Then, later on, Court 18 sees what could be a really great match between Karolína Muchová, so impressive in reaching the final at Roland Garros, and Jule Niemeier, a quarter-finalist last term.

Otherwise, we’ve only got Aryna Sabalenka, Carlos Alcaraz, Ons Jabeur, Cameron Norrie, Petra Kvitova, Dan Evans, Heather Watson v Barbora Krejcikova, Daniil Medvedev, Holger Rune, Taylor Fritz, Maria Sakkari, Mario Berrettini – and how fit is he? – Denis Shapovalov, Francis Tiafoe, Katie Boulter, and Jiri Vesely v Seb Korda to amuse us. Frankly, it’s a dizzgrace.

Play: 11am BST