One big withdrawal could be regarded as unfortunate for a tournament, two a bit of a fluke. But three seeded players pulling out of Wimbledon before they had even hit a ball in anger smacks of something more significant. The third seed Aryna Sabalenka, the 16th seed Victoria Azarenka and the No 22 Ekaterina Alexandrova all withdrew from the women’s singles on day one, putting a great big hole in the bottom half of the draw in the process.
Health has been a watchword already this week with several players, including Sabalenka and Ons Jabeur, the runner-up in each of the past two years, both explaining their decisions not to play in the Olympic Games this month, another quick change of surface put too much of a stress on their bodies.
