The world's greatest tennis players have gathered in London to battle it out on Wimbledon's courts before the summer recess. But with some of the game's legends already out of the running, a new cohort of contenders is emerging.
Wednesday was a bad day for the Brits who played on Centre Court, with former Wimbledon champion Andy Murray and current British no.1 Emma Radacanu getting knocked out of the competition.
Murray was beaten by American tennis player John Isner on the final game on the court while Radacanu lost to French tennis player Caroline Garcia.
Highlights
Many tennis legends continue to make headway, but some of them have already been knocked out. Serena Williams stepped onto court on Tuesday for the first time since since suffering a hamstring injury last year. It was the first time the star has lost a match in the first round of Wimbledon.
But some of the greats are still in the running. Rafael Nadal, no. 2 seed, is playing Wimbledon for the first time in three years and won against Francisco Cerundolo on Tuesday.
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No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic beat Thanasi Kokkinakis on Wednesday. Carlos Alcaraz, the 19-year-old Spanish no. 5 seed, rallied late and managed a five-set win against Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff on Monday.
Meanwhile, women's no.1 seed Iga Swiatek won against Croatian Jana Feat on Tuesday and is set to play Dutch Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove on Thursday on Court 1. On Thursday, Rafael Nadal takes on Ricardas Berankis.
A new generation
The big four stars of this generation are Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray. Yet they are now all in their 30s in a sport where the average age of retirement is around 27.
Key tennis players in their 20s are Russian 26-year-old Daniil Medvedev, who has won 13 ATP Tour singles titles, including the 2021 US Open and 2020 ATP Finals.
28-year-old Dominic Thiem from Austria won 17 ATP Tour singles titles, including a Grand Slam title at the 2020 US Open.
24-year-old German Alexander Zverev has won 5 Masters 1000 tournaments and has been in the top 10 since 2017 but his first grand slam still eludes him.
Danish Holger Rune is 19, ranked as world no. 28 and has one ATP tour singles title under his belt.
Women's tennis
Superstars Serena and Venus Williams are still in the game but the sisters are now 40 and 42 respectively. Despite the sudden retirement of Australia's Ashleigh Barty, many commentators are looking for the rising stars in the women's game.
21-year-old Iga Swiatek from Poland stands out. She caught the world's attention by winning the French Open in 2020 and is ranked number one.
Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka is 23 and has already snagged 10 singles titles and made the semi-finals at Wimbledon and the US Open.
British 19-year-old champion Emma Radacanu rose to prominence when she won the US Open in 2021 as a qualifier last year without dropping a set. However, she has struggled to repeat this success.
