‘More Surprises Coming At Wimbledon Open’

By Bimbo  Ajayi

National Junior tennis coach, Mohammed Ubale, has predicted many upsets in the ongoing Wimbledon 2012, saying that many of the favourites will face early exits in the tournament.

Five-time Wimbledon champion, Venus Williams, crashed out of the Grand Slam tournament she once ruled on Monday after losing 6-1, 6-3 to 79th-ranked Elena Vesnina of Russia. The 32-year-old Williams had not lost in the first round of any Grand Slam tournament over six years.

Ubale, commenting on his expectations in the ongoing event, said that tennis fans should expect to see more seeded players crashing out of the tournament at the early stage.

“There will be a lot of surprises in this year’s edition of Wimbledon because many of the favourites will be defeated by unseeded players. For instance, Venus Williams has already crashed out of the tournament by losing to Elena Vesnina,” said Ubale.

He said: “There are other highly-rated players in the tournament like Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovick and Roger Federer. I know that any of these players who are also favourites to win the tournament will also face an early exit from the event.”

The opening day’s play at SW19 revolved around players in the top half of the men’s draw, with two unexpected shocks taking place, the biggest of which happened in the quarter of the world number one.

While Djokovic was kicking off his Wimbledon defence with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 defeat of Juan Carlos Ferrero, Tomas Berdych found himself dumped out of the Grand Slam.

The number six seed suffered the fairly rare feat of losing three successive tie-breaks to be eliminated at the first hurdle by Ernests Gulbis in straight sets.

Having reached at least the fourth round for the last three years at Wimbledon and in both Grand Slams so far this year, many would have identified Berdych as the big threat to Djokovic in the top quarter.