Stunning Wimbledon upset ousts defending champion in first round for first time in 30 years
Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.
Most tennis players could only dream about doing something 22-time Grand Slam singles champion Steffi Graf accomplished during her legendary career.
World No. 6 and defending Wimbledon singles champion Marketa Vondrousova joined Graf in an exclusive yet undesirable club on Tuesday, as she fell in a straight-set stunner against 21-year-old Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.
Graf's first-round defeat in 1994 against Lori McNeil is the only other time in the sport's Open era, which dates to 1968, that a woman went from a championship at Wimbledon to an immediate exit a year later.
Vondrousova stunned the tennis world last summer when she became the first unseeded woman to win the crown at the All England Club. She was also the lowest-ranked woman to win at Wimbledon, entering the tournament last year 42nd.
Vondrousova's shocking loss on Tuesday will significantly impact her ranking.
The lefty was a finalist at the 2019 French Open, a silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics and a quarterfinalist at the 2023 U.S. Open.
According to an Associated Press and ESPN report, however, Vondrousova "appeared to still be suffering after-effects from a fall during a tune-up tournament on grass in Berlin last month that hurt her hip."
Bouzas Maneiro, meanwhile, has been placed as high as No. 83 in the WTA rankings and has never been past the second round of a major tournament.
"Now I'm really happy. I think this is one of the most important moments of my life, in my career here and this court is amazing," she said following the upset. "The atmosphere here, the tournament is [one of the] most beautiful tournaments I've ever played in my life, so thank you so much to everyone here who came to watch the match today. Thank you so much."
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