An afternoon onslaught of injuries and withdrawals at Wimbledon was followed last night by a grievous intimation of sporting mortality.
Roger Federer, the King of Wimbledon, was dethroned in a bloody coup on Centre Court by world No.116 Sergiy Stakhovsky, losing in four sets.
On an extraordinary day of departures, Federer, the seven-time champion at the All England Club, suffered his earliest departure at the tournament since 2002.
The competition will also be missing seven players who withdrew or retired through injury: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Yaroslava Shvedova, Victoria Azarenka, Steve Darcis, the conqueror of Rafael Nadal, Radek Stepanek, John Isner and Marin Cilic.
Maria Sharapova was also knocked out by the world No.131 Michelle Larcher de Brito, of Portugal, with the Russian falling three times on court. Caroline Wozniacki also lost, citing an Achilles tendon injury.
This sensational series of events on Black Wednesday for the victims overshadowed Andy Murray's demolition of Lu Yen-Hsun 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 on Court No.1.
While Azarenka, the No.2 seed, blamed the condition of this court for her fall against Maria Joao Koehler, of Portugal, Darcis said his departure was caused by a shoulder injury as a result of a dive during his sensational three-set defeat of Rafael Nadal. Cilic blamed a knee injury while Stepanek succumbed to a thigh problem.
Isner, who tweaked his left knee in the opening game against France's Adrian Mannarino, could only complete one more game before retiring with the score 1-1.
Therefore the American, who took part in the longest match in Wimbledon history when defeating Nicolas Mahut in 2100 in 11 hours and five minutes, has now been part of one of the shortest.
Stepanek realised he would not be able to shake off a thigh problem and retired against Jerzy Janowicz while trailing 6-2, 5-3.
Cilic, who was in Murray's side of the draw, said the withdrawals represented "a black day" for Wimbledon but would not blame the courts. However, Sharapova said pointedly that they were very slippy and appeared to tell the umpire during the match: "This court is dangerous".
She said at her post-match press conference: "Well, after I buckled my knee three times, that obviously was my first reaction as I've never fallen that many times in a match before."
The All England Club said in a statement that "there has been some suggestion that the court surface is to blame" for injuries and withdrawals. We have no reason to think this is the case." Court preparation, it said, had been the same as previous years.
The most historic departure, of course, was that of Federer, increasing the growing feeling that the 17-time grand slam winner is reaching the end of his reign. "Well, what do you do after something like this?" said the Swiss player who will be 32 in August. He dismissed thoughts of panic, insisting that he would "go back to work and come back".
Stakhovsky, who lost to Murray when the Scot won the junior US Open title, mischievously said: "I can tell my grandkids I kicked the butt of Roger Federer."
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