Carlos Alcaraz keeps roller-coasting. Will it ever cost him? | Wimbledon Wrap, Day 1

These days, the bigger the tennis tournament, the longer it takes to get going. Three of the majors have added a leisurely opening Sunday, while the Masters 1000s now last 12 days instead of nine. Which means the stars may not appear until the tournament is a third of the way through.

So it was jarring—and refreshing—to see a solid wall of well-known names on the Monday’s schedule at Wimbledon. Alcaraz, Sabalenka, Zverev, Paolini, Medvedev, Fritz, Tiafoe, Keys, among others, were in action right away.

Some of them might have wished they weren’t. This was the hottest first day on record—temperatures topped out in the low 90s—and it didn’t take long for a few of the seeds to look a little dazed in it. Some survived, others didn’t.

Here are three takeaways from a fiery first Monday.

Carlitos keeps roller-coasting. Will it ever cost him?

The heat was certainly on early in Centre Court. The first match, between Carlos Alcaraz and Fabio Fognini, had to be halted when a fan collapsed in the fifth set. Alcaraz, stand-up guy that he is, brought the person water.

By then, the Spaniard had mostly extricated himself from his own hot water on court. He led Fognini 3-0 in the fifth, and would go on to win 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.

A win is a win, of course, and Alcaraz duly credited Fognini: “The talent that Fabio has is immense.” Still, the Italian is 38, in his final season, and was 0-6 in tour-level matches so far in 2025. Considering that Alcaraz was on an 18-match win streak coming in, this match was closer than it needed to be.

Read More: Fabio Fognini in Rome "with a smile in my face" after confirming final professional season

Heat and first-round Wimbledon nerves, Alcaraz said, had a lot to do with it.

“Obviously, physically is difficult; part of the match you can feel down a little bit because of the sun hitting all the time,” he said.

“I could feel today that I was really nervous at the beginning. It doesn’t matter that the winning streak that I have right now, that I’ve been playing great on grass, that I’ve been preparing really well the week before. Wimbledon is different.”

Ups and downs have always been part of the Alcaraz experience. He has even started to call these types of matches his roller-coasters. So far, he has enjoyed the rides with almost no consequences. He’s now 14-1 in five-setters. Last year at Wimbledon, he beat France Tiafoe in five on his way to the title. In this year’s Roland Garros final, he didn’t really lift his game to its top level until he was down triple match point.

Against Fognini, it took Alcaraz four sets to fully impose his will. Once he did, he cruised. But there were some perplexing moments along the way, and he let the Italian hang around for two extra sets before slamming the door.

Alcaraz, it seems, has trouble manufacturing motivation and urgency on certain days. To focus, he has to feel it for real; he has to feel like he might lose before he can win.

For most of us, that's a dangerous way to live. By now, though, Alcaraz has played this way long enough that an early-round scare doesn’t faze him. “Survive, advance, improve” could be his Slam motto. Who can argue with the results?

“I think it was great,” he said of his long match today. “Really proud about getting through and giving myself a chance to be better in the next round.”

Daniil Medvedev still believes. Should we?

If you were looking for an encapsulation of Medvedev’s 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2 loss to Benjamin Bonzi in a single gesture, the Russian had you covered.

Down a break point in the third set, Medvedev took a backhand down the line and did something surprising, at least for him: He followed it in. What happened next was more predictable: Bonzi fired a forehand back up the line, and Medvedev’s volley landed in the bottom of the net.

Broken, Medvedev turned to his team, threw both his hands forward, and gave his coach a sarcastic thumbs up. The message was clear: “Thanks a lot for telling me to move in; brilliant idea.”

To be fair to his coach, it was hard to think of a better strategy. Bonzi was winning because he was more aggressive, especially in the tiebreakers. Medvedev’s usual strengths—defense, consistency, serve—weren’t doing the trick. And the rallies only got more one-sided as the Frenchman ran away with the fourth set. He won 57 percent of Medvedev’s second-serve points, while Medvedev double-faulted 12 times.

Was this just one loss, or does it signal more long-term trouble for a guy who made the semis at Wimbledon the last two years? While Medvedev’s ranking will take a hit, he opted for the positive view. He credited Bonzi, and said his own run to the final in Halle last week reassured him that his “top level” is still reachable.

“Not too worried,” Medvedev said. “I’m for sure very disappointed about the fact that I lost. It’s OK. Now hard courts. If I manage to play like I did in Halle, honestly even like I did today, I do feel like I can come back to Top 10. I have not much points to defend till the end of the year.”

All of that is true. Medvedev is also 29, which is not as old as it used to be. On the other hand, it has been two years since his last title. The real problem may be this: Bonzi is a mid-level player, but his attack was still more than enough to beat Medvedev. With Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner leading the way, the tour is trending in an aggressive direction. And Medvedev isn't going to get any quicker in his 30s.

Madison Keys lands in the net—and wins

In the early years of Keys’ career, Wimbledon seemed to me like the Slam she would most likely win. At some point, that serve and those ground strokes would click on grass, and no would stand a chance. This isn’t how it worked out. Keys is 26-10 at Wimbledon—not bad—but has only made the quarters twice. The Australian Open, it turned out, was where she finally clicked.

I’m not holding my breath for her to repeat that run at the All England Club; she could play Sabalenka in the quarters. But her title in Melbourne may already have made her a more clutch performer at the majors. Keys saved match points to beat Sofia Kenin in the third round at Roland Garros, and today she squeaked out a tight three-setter, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 7-5, over a resilient Elena-Gabriela Ruse, who matched Keys shot for shot and pace for pace the whole way.

“I think she’s a really great player,” Keys said of the 58th-ranked Ruse. “I think matchup-wise it’s just kind of one of those matches where we can have tough battles.”

Keys had a lot to contend with against Ruse. Heat, first-round nerves, an opponent who likes her game—and who threw in an underhand serve. The American also served for the each of the last two sets, and was broken. The second time, at break point, Ruse hit a stab backhand that bounced on Keys’ side of the net, and then bounced back over to Ruse’s side. Keys took a swing at it, but ended up crashing into the net instead.

Fifteen years on tour will let you know that you can’t dwell on anything, even a disaster like that. She bounced back to win the final two games.

“[Tried] to be really quick about letting it go and moving on,” Keys said. “Just kind of know that wasting your time and being upset that you didn’t close out the match, all of a sudden you’re going to be down Love-30.”

“Sometimes it’s just being tough and being able to get the win is all that really matters.”

You don’t have to be a Grand Slam champ to understand that. But it doesn’t hurt.