By Alberto Amalfi | Monday, July 11, 2016
Weeks after completing the career Grand Slam, three-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic was one of the major losers at The Championships.
Photo credit: Stephen White/CameraSport
Since we missed out on the Champions' Dinner, we close the curtain on the 130th staging of The Championships hosting our own awards ceremony.
Our choices for the Wimbledon Winners & Losers from the 2016 Championships start today with the Top 10 Losers from the fortnight.
Tomorrow, we'll highlight the Top 10 Wimbledon Winners.
Watch: Murray Defuses Raonic To Win Second Wimbledon Crown
1. Trolls
Social media can create global community. It can also offer the cover of anonymity for dangerous lunacy.
After losing his Wimbledon opener to Denis Istomin, 20th-seeded Kevin Anderson was hit with death threats issued by gamblers irate that they lost money on the match.
Anderson, who underwent ankle surgery in March and is trying to regain his form, thanked the "good people" who have supported him after frightening threats.
2. Viktor Troicki
A one-man raging storm in the second round, the 25th-seeded Serbian delivered one of the epic Wimbledon rants in recent years.
Upset when the chair umpire Damiano Torella over-ruled an out call on an Albert Ramos-Vinolas struck with the Spaniard serving for the match, Troicki unloaded branding Torella "the worst umpire ever in the world" among other things.
3. Jose Perlas
Some things are better left unsaid. After Fabio Fognini's coach, Jose Perlas, said something "very rude" to fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, the insult infuriated the normally reserved Lopez so much he fired up and fought back from a two-set deficit to defeat Fognini, 3-6, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in the second round.
"This never happened to me in 20 years that the coach of my opponent insulted me during the match’. Never ever in my life, so I don’t know why (it happened)," Lopez said afterward. "That’s it. And then I was telling Fabio that this shouldn’t be possible. ‘What’s wrong with your coach that he is going that way to me all of a sudden?’ Because nothing happened between me and Fabio.”
We don't know the root of Perlas' dispute with Lopez, but we do know disrespecting an opponent isn't coaching, it's just plain dumb and in this case it cost Perlas' player.
4. Nick Kyrgios
Another good, bad and ugly Grand Slam performance for the enigmatic Australian, who has failed to survive the fourth round in six straight majors.
The Good: A focused Kyrgios navigated a dangerous first-week draw defeating former quarterfinalists Radek Stepanek and Feliciano Lopez as well as showing character in a five-set win over Dustin Brown.
The Bad: An apathetic approach to the second set of his meek 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 fourth-round loss to eventual-champion Andy Murray that had Kyrgios repeating his familiar "I don't love tennis" refrain (a page that comes straight out of the Andre Agassi playbook) while conceding when things get tough "I'm just a little bit soft."
The Ugly: While Murray was quite right in pointing out some members of the media try to goad the 21-year-old into lashing out, Kyrgios was wrong to take the bait and spit out crude replies as he did to Piers Morgan's annoying twitter jibe.
It all had John McEnroe, not exactly a paragon of emotional stability during his playing days, calling for Australian Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt to "stop playing doubles so he can knock some sense into Kyrgios."
If Kyrgios ever hires a full-time coach, commits completely to fitness and learns to focus on the action between the lines rather than berating his box for not standing up or scouring Twitter for new feuds, his potential is unlimited. For now, immaturity continues to trump his tremendous talent.
5. Garbiñe Muguruza
The Roland Garros champion arrived at SW19 as the world No. 2 and departed in a dispirited second-round loss to 124th-ranked qualifier Jana Cepelova. Muguruza managed to win just three points on her second serve in a puzzling 6-3, 6-2 loss and looked almost relieved to be out of the running a year after storming to the Wimbledon final.
For all her gifts, motivation and stress management remain issues for the 22-year-old Spaniard. Muguruza has failed to surpass the second round in seven of the 12 tournaments she's played this year which is startling for the world No. 3, who has played some of her most dynamic tennis against world No. 1 Serena Williams only to look listless suffering nine of her 11 losses to opponents ranked outside the Top 20.
6. Novak Djokovic
Placing the world No. 1 who had won four consecutive Grand Slam crowns, including Roland Garros to complete the career Grand Slam, on any loser list may sound overly harsh at best and a bit like sheer madness at worst.
Did you see the three-time champion's third-round loss to Sam Querrey?
Credit Querrey for standing tall amid pressure. The 28th-seeded Querrey denied Djokovic's bid for the calendar Grand Slam snapping the Serbian's streak of 30 straight Grand Slam victories, but Djokovic's desire and usually rock-solid backhand were alarmingly absent in the loss.
The match featured five rain delays, a powerful serving performance from Querrey, who fought off 14 of 17 break points, mis-hits, funky bounces a tricky breeze and an oddly apathetic performance by Djokovic in the second set when he mentally checked out losing five straight games to essentially donate the second set. Djokovic looked disappointed being relegated to Court No. 1 and couldn't quite get over the crankiness or the toll of a historic seeason conceding his epic run has been "exhausting."
Here's hoping Djokovic, who has pulled out of Serbia's Davis Cup quarterfinal against Great Britain this weekend, takes time to rest and recover in time for hard-court season.
7. Petra Kvitova
Watching the powerful left-hander dismantle Maria Sharapova in the 2011 final then destroy Genie Bouchard in the 2014 title match, the shots seemed to flow like all the right answers from Kvitova's Wilson racquet.
Lately, Kvitova looks like she can barely comprehend the questions.
To be sure, Ekaterina Makarova, who bounced the 10th-seeded Czech out of the second round, is an accomplished player, a 2015 Wimbledon doubles finalist and singles semifinalist at both the Australian Open and US Open. However, it's still alarming to see a veteran like Kvitova clank 43 unforced errors (to 17 for Makarova) and look clueless as to how to correct the errors.
It's shameful an all-court player of Kvitova's caliber has dropped out of the Top 10 to No. 13 with her last title coming nearly 18 months ago.
8. Stan Wawrinka
The two-time Grand Slam champion added 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek to his team aiming to improve his grass-court game and two consecutive quarterfinal appearances at SW19.
Instead, Wawrinka, who has never won a grass-court title and struggles with his return on the slicker surface, bowed out to 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro in round two. While drawing a former Grand Slam champion in a major second round is a difficult draw for sure, the fourth seeded Swiss' inability to adapt to the surface and del Potro's vulnerable backhand were disappointing.
9. Santina
A year ago, Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis pulled off a dramatic comeback fighting back for a 5-7, 7-6 (4), 7-5 triumph over Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina to win the 2015 Wimbledon doubles title in one of the most thrilling matches of the tournament.
Their title defense sputtered as fifth seeds Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova stopped Santina, 6-2, 6-4, spoiling the prospect of a doubles clash between the Williams sisters and former nemesis and current doubles world No. 1 Hingis, who shares the top spot with Mirza.
While the pair did not confirm they will return as partners for the 2017 Championship, Mirza said she's hopeful Santina will be back together at the grass-court Grand Slam next year.
"We don't plan too much in advance in our lives, because we don't know what we're doing next week," Mirza said. "I hope to be back next year if I'm healthy and still playing. And I look forward to coming back."
10. Former Grand Slam Champions
Another reason why Serena Williams may well shatter Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 Grand Slams is the plight of former women's Grand Slam champions.
Neither Maria Sharapova, who is appealing her two-year doping suspension, nor Victoria Azarenka, who withdrew from Wimbledon with a right knee injury that flared up during the French Open, were in the field.
Four Grand Slam champions— Garbiñe Muguruza, Petra Kvitova, Samantha Stosur and Ana Ivanovic—won a total of three matches combined.
Three of the four women's semifinalists—Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Angelique Kerber—are Grand Slam champions. Though several former major finalists including Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic and Sara Errani were all bounced by the second round.