Strange things have been happening at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships as a record number of seeded players fell in the opening rounds. Both the men’s and women’s singles tournaments have witnessed numerous early casualties among the top stars, with the likes of Coco Gauff (who won the French Open in June so brilliantly) and third seed Alexander Zverev suffering shock defeats.
A record 36 seeded players faltered in the opening two rounds, surpassing the previous record of 35 seeds who fell in the first or second rounds of the 2020 French Open. So is this the start of a new trend in which tennis has suddenly become wholly unpredictable, or is it just a statistical anomaly that will not be repeated or surpassed any time soon? Well, we’ll answer that after the 2026 and 2027 Championships. But in the meantime, let’s take a look back at the top-quality players that got knocked out far earlier than they’d anticipated.
Men’s Singles – Four of Top 10 Lose in First Round
_(cropped).jpg){kind=link}
The highest-seeded man to go out in the opener was German Alexander Zverev. The third seed stands almost two metres tall, but his opponent was Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech, who is only an inch shorter and proved more than a match for the favourite. Rinderknech may only have been ranked 72nd in the world the last time the totals were totted up, but he showed great guile and tenacity to get the better of Zverev in five sets. The German has never won a Grand Slam (though he’s made a few finals), and his wait continues.
Seventh seed Lorenzo Musetti was another early casualty as the Italian suffered a shock loss to the Georgian qualifier, Nikoloz Basilashvili (try pronouncing that after a drinking horn or two of Georgian orange wine!). The Georgian was ranked outside of the top 100 at the end of June but he played brilliantly to secure the win. Unfortunately, he went out in the second round to another Italian, Lorenzo Sonego.
Holger Rune, who made the Wimbledon quarters in 2023 and was seeded eighth this time, also went out to a qualifier in the opener. Chilean 29-year-old Nicolás Jarry lost the first two sets, but battled back superbly to win the next three to make it to the second round, where he beat American Learner Tien, before overcoming João Fonseca from Brazil. Jarry met his match in the fourth round, when he went down in a five-set thriller to British favourite Cameron Norrie.
The final man from the top 10 seeds to mess up their tournament in the first round was Russia’s Daniil Medvedev. He made the semis here in 2024 and 2023, and won the US Open in 2021, but could find no way to vanquish Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi, who got the job done in four sets.
The other seeds who went out in the opener were: Denis Shapovalov, Ugo Humbert, Matteo Berrettini, Francisco Cerúndolo, Alex Michelsen, Alexander Bublik, Alexei Popyrin, Tallon Griekspoor and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Women’s Singles – Three of Top Five Seeds Booted Out
The biggest shock of the opening round was undoubtedly the defeat of French Open champion Coco Gauff. She went down in straight sets to Ukrainian 25-year-old Dayana Yastremska, who was ranked just 490th in the world in the middle of June! Gauff never really looked at the races, especially in the second set, which she lost 6-1. After the match, the French Open champ said, “Yeah, this definitely sucks.” It sure does, Coco!
Gauff wasn’t the only highly rated player to underperform in the opening round, however. Fellow American and number three seed Jessica Pegula also lost in straight sets. She went down 6-2, 6-3 to Italian 25-year-old Elisabetta Cocciaretto, who is at least ranked within the top 100 (but not by much). She conquered another American (Katie Volynets) in the second round before falling to defeat against Swiss player Belinda Bencic.
The other players seeded in the top 10 to lose in the first round were:
- Zheng Qinwen – The fifth seed from China lost to Czech player Kateřina Siniaková, who has never been past the third round at Wimbledon and was ranked 74th in the world in June.
- Paula Badosa – Seeded ninth at Wimbledon, the Spaniard couldn’t live up to that billing when losing in three sets to home star Katie Boulter, much to the delight of the locals.
The other women’s seeds not to make it to the second round were Magdalena Fręch, Karolína Muchová, McCartney Kessler, Magda Linette, Marta Kostyuk, and Jeļena Ostapenko.
Plenty More Fall at Second Hurdle
Slipping up in the very first round of any tournament feels awful. But for those seeded in the top 32, even a second-round exit is somewhat embarrassing. Here are the seeded men and women who got knocked out at the second-round stage, starting with the men:
Seeded Men
| Player | Seeded | Lost to |
|---|---|---|
| Tommy Paul | 13 | Sebastian Ofner |
| Jack Draper | 4 | Marin Čilić |
| Tomáš Macháč | 21 | August Holmgren |
| Félix Auger-Aliassime | 25 | Jan-Lennard Struff |
| Jiří Lehečka | 23 | Mattia Bellucci |
| Frances Tiafoe | 12 | Cameron Norrie |
Seeded Women
| Player | Seeded | Lost to |
|---|---|---|
| Ashlyn Krueger | 31 | Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova |
| Diana Shnaider | 12 | Diane Parry |
| Leylah Fernandez | 29 | Laura Siegemund |
| Beatriz Haddad Maia | 21 | Dalma Gálfi |
| Jasmine Paolini | 4 | Kamilla Rakhimova |
| Donna Vekić | 22 | Cristina Bucșa |
| Sofia Kenin | 28 | Jéssica Bouzas Maneiro |
It is only the third time this century that more than 30 seeds have been knocked out in the first two rounds of Wimbledon (based on the men’s and women’s singles tournaments). Whether or not this is a new phenomenon that will be repeated in the coming years remains to be seen. But it’s certainly made the 2025 Wimbledon Championships interesting as the big names fall and little-known players make names for themselves. Long may it continue – even if the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Jannick Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka march on.