Hello and welcome to coverage from day two of Wimbledon, where Katie Boulter looks at Britain’s best chance of qualifying for the second week after a dismal opening day.
Ten Britons were beaten on Monday, one of the worst results in recent history.
It could have been worse, but Jack Pinnington Jones was saved by poor light against Brandon Nakashima in straight sets and will have to finish his first match on Tuesday.
The number of defeats is the host nation’s worst since daily records began in 2000, although there is a chance the record of 16 first-round defeats could be surpassed when the remaining players take the court today.
Fran Jones, who lost 6-4, 6-4 to France’s Diana Parry, said: “It will create bad headlines, perhaps a little unfairly. I think with some of the draws people are dealt it’s always going to be difficult.”
“But no one can hide from the weight of Wimbledon. It’s important to everyone and I’m sure that played a role at home.”
The Lawn Tennis Association can rightly point to the fact that this year’s draws have been particularly nasty, with only Cameron Norrie facing a player ranked below him.
The British No. 1’s loss to American Michael Zheng was undoubtedly the most disappointing of the day, although the qualifier played a stunning match and won a fifth-set tiebreaker.
It was the sixth defeat in a row for last year’s quarter-finalist Norrie, who said: “If I had a few more matches before the match started, I think I could have won the match. There were so many little things in the match that he did a really good job of getting on his side.”
Harriet Dart came close to crushing former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko but ultimately lost 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Qualifier Oliver Tarvet, who lost in the second round to Carlos Alcaraz last year, also played at a high level in a four-hour battle against 25th seed Arthur Rinderknech but was unable to force a decider.
British teen trio Mimi Hsu, Hannah Klugman and Mika Stojsavljevic were also among the losers after being dealt very difficult draws.
Xu won her first senior set at Wimbledon against former quarter-finalist Daria Kasatkina but lost 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, while Stojsavljevic was quickly beaten by last year’s semi-finalist Belinda Bencic 6-2, 6-1.
Klugman, 17, faced 2024 champion Barbora Krejcikova and remained buoyed after a close second set in a 6-1, 6-4 defeat.
“I feel so motivated because the score was 4-4 and I had the points to go 5-5,” Klugman said. “I think I had break points on most of her serves in the first set. So it’s close.”
Elsewhere in the wild card spot, Felix Gill lost to rising Spanish star Raphael Jodar, while fellow debutants Alicia Dudeney and Max Basing also lost.