It’s doubtful Carlos Alcaraz will need to be told. If the effervescent, at times mesmerising, 22-year-old Spaniard wants to claim his third consecutive Wimbledon title, he’ll have to play a damn sight better than he did here on day one. For tennis’s hottest property, this was a stutter of a start.
Gasps were aplenty at last Friday’s draw ceremony when wily old fox Fabio Fognini was picked to face the defending champion. The old-school maverick is entering his final months on tour and, at the age of 38, seemed a routine first-round conquest for Alcaraz, himself on an 18-match win-streak following his French Open triumph against Jannik Sinner. Yet the inspired Italian thrived in a final big-match moment here, conducting the 15,000 in attendance with a brash arrogance even if, in the end, he came up short.
