Jo-Wilfried Tsonga pulls out of Wimbledon as injury forces six players home

Second seed slams the state of courts after casualty list grows

Sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga became the latest player to suffer an injury nightmare at Wimbledon as he had to quit his second-round match with Ernests Gulbis on a day of injuries to key figures here.

The popular Frenchman looked as comfortable as he was expected to as he took the opening set 6-3 on Centre Court.

He suffered a knee injury in the second set, though, and, after losing it 6-3 to the often-unpredictable Latvian, he called for medical assistance.

He headed into the third set regardless but endured further woe as he accidentally hit his own wrist with his racket and, after limping his way to another 6-3 loss, shook hands with his opponent and the umpire.

His withdrawal was the sixth of the day alone, joining Victoria Azarenka, Marin Cilic, Steve Darcis, John Isner and Radek Stepanek in quitting due to injury.

Victoria Azarenka, arguably the player most likely to challenge Serena Williams in the defence of her Wimbledon title, withdrew, and Steve Darcis, the first-round vanquisher of Rafael Nadal, was also a casualty after failing to shake off a shoulder injury picked up in the win of his career against the French Open champion.

No18 seed John Isner, tipped as a potential dangerman by Andy Murray, withdrew just 15 minutes into his match against Adrian Mannarino with a knee problem while former Wimbledon quarter-finalist Radek Stepanek will play no further part because of a thigh complaint.

Then less than three hours after play began, Marin Cilic became the fifth player to pull out. The No10 seed, who Murray beat in the Queen’s final, withdrew due to a knee injury.

There had been question marks about Azarenka’s involvement in the tournament after limping her way to victory in her first match against Maria Joao Koehler following a nasty fall while serving.

She did the splits on the slippery surface and slumped to the ground, clutching her right knee and sobbing on the court.

Along with Maria Sharapova, Azarenka, the two-time Australian Open champion and twice a semi-finalist at Wimbledon, was seen as the only realistic obstacle to Williams’s continued dominance of the women’s game.

Following her withdrawal, the Belarussian fired a salvo at the All England Club, criticising the courts, on which a host of other players have slipped in the three days of action.

“The court was not in a good condition,” she said. “My opponent fell twice and I fell badly on there [Court No1]. So did a lot of people after. I don’t know if it’s right or what. I can’t figure it out. It would be great if someone from the All England Club examine it and try to find the issue, to see what happened. There’s nothing I’ve done wrong.”

An MRI scan on Monday showed no ligament or tendon damage and Azarenka said that the bruising would most likely clear up in the next 48 hours.

However, after practising this morning, she found the pain too much to consider taking on Flavia Pennetta in the opening match on Centre Court.

She said: “I couldn’t be more disappointed. Wimbledon is a tournament I was so looking forward to. To not be able to play, I could not be more disappointed.”

Asked if she felt she was in the shape to win the title, she added: “Yes, I think so. I was playing well. I was in shape. I just couldn’t prevent something like that happening.”

Darcis had become the darling of the opening day by producing one of the biggest shocks in recent Wimbledon history, beating world No5 Nadal 7-6, 7-6, 6-4.

The Belgian was scheduled to play Poland’s Lukasz Kubot in the third match on Court 17 but, despite the work of his physiotherapist, he failed to overcome his shoulder complaint and withdrew just a few hours before he was due out on court.

The player nicknamed ‘the Shark’, sporting a tattoo of the animal on his injured shoulder, speculated he had picked up the injury while falling during the first set of his match against the Spaniard. He said: “After the match, after a few more hours, I started to feel so much pain. I couldn’t sleep that night. I saw the physio and doctor yesterday and they did a good job. Today it was a little bit better but I can’t serve and I can’t hit my shots.”

There was some consolation for Darcis, a player more recently used to playing in challenger events, in that he pocketed £38,000 for his victory over Nadal and he admitted in time he would be able to look back on the tournament favourably.

“Right now, I’m not so happy,” he said. “It’s so tough to go out like this. It’s not happy memories right now. I think when you beat a guy like Rafa in the first round, you want to show more, to play more matches. I was playing maybe the best tennis of my life here. Not going on court today is maybe the biggest disappointment I’ve had.”

Isner made his way into the record books for playing the longest match in Wimbledon history but today was involved in one of the shortest contests ever.

The American, who famously beat Nicolas Mahut in 11 hours and six minutes in 2010, retired from his second-round match after a quarter of an hour with the score tied at one game all.

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