Novak Djokovic - Getty Images

Undone in London

June 26, 2008

It’s still the first week of the Wimbledon Championships but already some of the biggest names have fallen. Coming into the tournament, all the talk was about whether or not five-time defending champion Roger Federer (Switzerland) was playing well enough to win a sixth title at the All England Club, but while he’s eased through his first two matches five of the Top 10 seeds have succumbed to lower-ranked players.

The drama began on the first day of the tournament when Niagara Falls, Ontario native Frank Dancevic pulled off a shocking upset over No. 7 seed David Nalbandian (Argentina) in straight sets. Showing few signs of struggle after a wrist injury forced him to withdraw from the Queen’s Club event leading up to Wimbledon, Dancevic dominated from the first serve and never looked back in winning 6-4, 6-2, 6-4. He would later fall to American Bobby Reynolds in the second round.

On day two, when the bottom half of the draw hit the courts for the first time, the biggest name to fall was No. 4 seed Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) as he lost 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to Germany’s Benjamin Becker. Playing on his worst surface, Davydenko has never made it past the fourth round in London and will now have to wait another year to get the chance to try again.

The biggest shock of the event thus far came on Wednesday when world No. 3 Novak Djokovic (Serbia), many people’s choice to win the whole thing, was crushed by former world No. 1 Marat Safin (Russia) in straight sets. Djokovic arrived at the tournament confident he could advance well into the draw but looked listless on Centre Court and was stopped in his tracks by a talented player who has struggled lately to regain the form that saw him capture two Grand Slam titles a few years ago. Safin will next face Italian Andreas Seppi, and while Seppi is the seeded player at No. 29, Safin is the favourite to advance to the fourth round.

Day four brought with it another pair of major upsets as No. 6 Andy Roddick, another player who is solid on grass and could easily capture the trophy, and No. 9 James Blake were defeated by Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) and Rainer Schuettler (Germany), respectively. Roddick and Blake represented the two greatest hopes for an American champion on the men’s side, and the loss was no doubt especially tough for Roddick, who has stated multiple times that he would love to win at Wimbledon and who was given a favourable draw here this year.

What all this means is that the door is now wide open for a third consecutive Roger-Rafa showdown on championship Sunday. Federer has been efficient so far, dispatching of Slovakia’s Dominik Hrbaty and Sweden’s Robin Soderling without dropping a set. Up next for the Mighty Fed is Frenchman Marc Gicquel, with No. 20 seed Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) a possible fourth round opponent. World No. 2 Rafael Nadal (Spain) has had a bit more difficulty in his opening contests but reached the third round by easily defeating Andreas Beck (Germany) and then scraping out a four-set triumph over rising star Ernests Gulbis of Latvia. He will next face No. 27 seed Nicolas Kiefer (Germany).

There are also several other players who could take advantage of the gaping holes in the draw, most notably No. 5 David Ferrer (Spain), No. 8 Richard Gasquet, No. 10 Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus), No. 11 Tomas Berdych (Czech) and No. 12 Andy Murray (Great Britain), the greatest hope for the local fans in London. Each of these men are looking for their first ever Grand Slam title.