Five Tennis stars who suffered shocking early exits from Wimbledon

These players suffered unexpected defeats at the hands of relatively unknown competitors.

The Wimbledon 2021 is currently underway after almost a two-year hiatus. The championships offers many of the best Tennis players in the world on display, some of whom have gone on to script history there. The Wimbledon has experienced heartbreaks and upsets over the years of its existence. In this edition, Serena Williams suffered an unexpected first round exit, after she was forced to retire midway through the opening set for injury.

Other stars in Stefanos Tsitsipas and Petra Kvitová were also knocked out of the tournament after they were handed defeats in the opening day itself.

Here are the top five players who have made shocking early exits in the history of Wimbledon.

5. Martina Hingis (1999)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_I8aCF2_Ks&list=TLPQMDEwNzIwMjFWkMkhdUSqzQ&index=2

Martina Hingis was a bona fide superstar back in her day. The Swiss had become the top seeded player at just as an 18-year old. Moreover, she had already added five Grand Slam trophies to her name within a short duration of her career. Consequently, she became a huge crowd favourite.

In the first round of Wimbledon 1999, she face a relatively unknown player in Jelena Dokic. Everyone expected Hingis to make easy work of the Australian. However, fate had other plans as Dokic dominated the match and allowed Hingis to salvage only two points from as many sets. The final result was 6-2,6-0.

4. Lleyton Hewitt ( 2003)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wsEtZsx7GQ

Top seed Lleyton Hewitt was in for a surprise in the 2003 Wimbledon. The Australian met Croatia's Ivo Karlovic in his first round encounter. Standing in at 6'10", Karlovic had an imposing frame but not the performance or the achievements to his credit yet. However, all of it changed when he stepped in against Hewitt.

Lleyton managed to win the the first set but Karlovic made quick work of him later. The match finished in four sets and Karlovic had pulled off the impossible by defeating Hewitt with a scoreline of 1-6,7-6, 6-3, 6-4.

3. Stefanos Tsitsipas (2021)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F0kWfMI5Lc

Greek Tennis sensation Stefanos Tsitsipas made a shocking exit in the first round of Wimbledon 2021. Tsitsipas, who had a thrilling French open final against Novak Djokovic only weeks before, was beaten by unseeded opponent Frances Tiafoe Jr in the opening round. To add more insult, the loss came in straight sets.

Tstitsipas, who has featured in a number of hard fought matches in 2021 was unable to win a single set. The match culminated with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 victory for Tiafoe, whose attacking net play yielded dividends.

The defeat marked Tstitsipas' third exit in the first round, out of four appearances at Wimbledon. It was also ironic that even on his best-ever career run, Tsitsipas was unable to turn the tides in his favour.

2. Rafael Nadal (2013)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f1YyGnldJk

A shell shocked Rafael Nadal was ousted in the first rounds of the Wimbledon in 2013. The Spaniard was beaten in straight sets against Steve Darcis, who was ranked 130 places below him.

Darcis won the first two sets in tiebreakers. In the final set, he broke Nadal's serve and held on to finally win the match 7-6,7-6,6-4. The Belgian handed the French maestro his maiden first round exit from a Grand Slam,

1.Roger Federer (2013)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMgXktpnRvY

After Nadal's exit in the opening round, Roger Federer followed suit in the second round of Wimbledon in 2013. Widely considered as the best player in the world on grass, Federer fell to Ukranian Sergiy Stakhovsky in the second round that year.

Stakhovsky's strong resolution and relentless baseline play pushed Federed on the backfoot. Federer managed to win the first set, however, Stakhovsky dictated the rest of the game. The match concluded after a four sets, two of which went to tiebreakers. The final result 6-7,7-6,7-5,7-6 was a victory for the Ukranian. For more updates, follow Khel Now on Twitter, Instagram and join our community on Telegram