Gordon Reid’s bid to defend his Wimbledon Wheelchair singles title was abruptly ended in his opening match and afterwards he reckoned he had been a victim of the luck of the draw. The 25-year-old was beaten in straight sets - 6-2, 6-3 – by Sweden’s Stefan Olssson, the man he beat in last year’s final and he acknowledged that the better man won on the day.
“He was very aggressive and played the match on his terms. It’s not the result I wanted but you’ve got to give credit where it’s due and sometimes you come up against a better opponent,” said Reid. “I had a couple of opportunities that I missed at the start of the match and once he got a bit of momentum he kind of steam-rollered it from there.”
His success last year having paralleled that of Andy Murray, he shared in his fellow Scot’s disappointment this round in exiting in the quarter-finals.
“The same as Andy I came here to win it and I’m obviously disappointed at not doing that, but you can’t win every tournament and you know everybody else has come with the same mindset. I knew today would be really difficult as a re-match of the final last year,” he said.
Reid said that also went some way to explaining his succession of early Grand Slam exits this season after also winning the Australian Open last year.
“If you look at the draws I’ve had, I’ve played the same guys in the first round of all the Slams this year that I met in the finals of them last year. That’s where the fact we’ve got such a small draw makes it difficult straight from the start,” he pointed out.
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