Many Slips, but Federer Takes the Biggest Fall

WIMBLEDON, England (NYTimes.com) — The carnage began early Wednesday at Wimbledon. Fifteen minutes into the first match on Court 3, the top-seeded American man, No. 18 John Isner, retired from his match against Adrian Mannarino with a left knee injury.

By lunch, women’s No. 2 Victoria Azarenka and Steve Darcis, who upset Rafael Nadal in the first round Monday, had withdrawn because of injuries.

At tea, a knee injury had forced No. 6 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to quit his match after three sets, and third-seeded Maria Sharapova and ninth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki had lost to qualifiers after slipping on court and requiring medical treatment.

At dinner, after seven singles players had retired or withdrawn with injuries, the All England Club issued an extraordinary statement defending the state of its grass.

And as the sun was setting to bring one of the strangest days in Wimbledon history to an end, the most unusual sight of all occurred at Centre Court: Roger Federer walking off as a second-round loser.

The 116th-ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine used old-school serve-and-volley tactics to send the latest shock through Wimbledon, ending Federer’s remarkable streak of reaching 36 consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals with a 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (5) victory.

Though nearing his 32nd birthday and having won only one tournament this year, Federer had made a home at Wimbledon, winning the title seven times. He had not lost before the quarterfinals at Wimbledon since falling in the first round to Mario Ancic in 2002. He had not lost before the quarterfinals at any Grand Slam event since he lost in the third round of the 2004 French Open to Gustavo Kuerten.

“Can’t have ’em all,” a subdued Federer said after the match.

When Wednesday began, Federer’s biggest problem was his shoes. The All England Club had asked him to change them, saying the orange-soled ones he wore during the first round violated the club’s dress code calling for predominantly white attire.

But no one was talking about shoes after Stakhovsky’s throwback performance, which he described afterward  as “magic.” Stakhovsky went to the net 96 times, winning 64 percent of his points there, and had 17 aces and 72 winners.

“He was uncomfortable to play against,” said Federer, a 17-time Grand Slam champion. “I think he served and volleyed really well. It was difficult to get into that much rhythm clearly against a player like that.”

After no breaks of serve in the first two sets, Stakhovsky turned the match by winning the second-set tiebreaker on a crisp serve-and-volley combination. He scored the first break of the match at 5-5 in the third set with a lunging forehand stab volley, then served out the set. He may have had the upper hand on Federer, but Stakhovsky knew there were other forces at work.

“You’re playing the guy and then you’re playing his legend, which is following him because he won it seven times,” Stakhovsky said. “He’s holding all possible career records here, I think, winning matches and everything. You’re playing two of them.

“When you’re beating one, you still have the other one who is pressing you. You’re saying: ‘Am I about to beat him? Is it possible?’ ”

Stakhovsky said he did not believe he could win until he was up a break in the fourth set and held serve at 2-1 after being behind by 15-40. Federer was only 1 of 8 on break-point opportunities in the match.

“I struggled maybe on the big points, you know, this time around again, like I have for some time this season,” Federer said.

Since winning Wimbledon last year, Federer lost in the quarterfinals at the United States Open, the semifinals at the Australian Open and the quarterfinals at the French Open. But he refused to write an epitaph on his career.

“I still have plans to play for many more years to come,” he said. “It’s normal that after all of a sudden losing early after being in the quarters 36 times, people feel it’s different.”

Wednesday certainly felt different. Marin Cilic, the 10th-seeded man, who withdrew with a knee injury, called it a “very black day” — and that was at about 2:30 in the afternoon. The carnage was not even half over. In all, seven former No. 1 players exited the tournament.

Fans who stayed at Centre Court all day witnessed a nightmarish day for seeded players. Azarenka was supposed to start the day there before she withdrew. She was replaced on the schedule by the Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, last year’s junior champion here.

Tsonga was next on Centre Court, facing Ernests Gulbis. Tsonga said he began experiencing a tendon problem in his left knee five or six days ago. He sought medical treatment on the court after he and Gulbis split the first two sets, 3-6, 6-3. Tsonga retired after losing the third set, 6-3.

According to the International Tennis Federation, the seven retirements and walkovers in singles were believed to be the most on the same day at a Grand Slam event in the Open era.

All of the slipping and injuries led to questions of why. The suggested culprits included the length of the season, the short time to adjust to grass from clay, and the condition of the courts.

There have been several significant falls, the most graphic being when Azarenka twisted her right knee during her first-round win Monday that left her lying on the court in tears for several minutes. Azarenka said a magnetic resonance imaging test Tuesday showed no tendon or ligament tears, but after practice and treatment Wednesday, her knee felt worse.

“I don’t know if it’s the court, or it’s the weather,” she said. “Would be great if the club or somebody who takes care of the court just would examine or try to find an issue so that wouldn’t happen.”

Sharapova fell three times during her 6-3, 6-3 loss to the qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal, and she could be seen on the television broadcast calling the courts dangerous. But in her news conference later, she did not want to use that — or a strained left hip — as an excuse.

“Those are the conditions that are there for my opponent as well,” Sharapova said. “Just took a lot more falls than she did today.”

Wozniacki injured her foot after slipping during her 6-2, 6-2 loss to Petra Cetkovska on Court 2, which preceded Sharapova’s loss.

At about 8 p.m., with so many players being asked about court conditions in news conferences and so many news media requests to speak to the new groundskeeper Neil Stubley, the All England Club issued a statement about the grass.

“The court preparation has been to exactly the same meticulous standard as in previous years, and it is well known that grass surfaces tend to be more lush at the start of an event,” said Richard Lewis, chief executive of the club. “The factual evidence, which is independently checked, is that the courts are almost identical to last year, as dry and firm as they should be, and we expect them to continue to play to their usual high quality.”

British fans had one piece of good news Wednesday: the path to the final became wide open for Andy Murray, who flew under the radar with a 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 win over Yen-Hsun Lu. His half of the draw, once thought to be overloaded with talent, no longer has Nadal, Federer or Tsonga.

There will not be a much-anticipated final between Sharapova and Serena Williams either, after their verbal pretournament sparring. With Azarenka, Sharapova and No. 5 Sara Errani out, the highest-seeded woman in the bottom half of the draw is No. 8 Petra Kvitova, who moved on to the third round because Yaroslava Shvedova withdrew with an arm injury.

Asked if he had ever seen a day like this at a Grand Slam event, the ESPN analyst Brad Gilbert said, “Not even close.”        

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