A player is seeded at a tournament as a result of his performances in the past on the tour. The seed is a position that ranks you transparently in terms of current caliber. However, not all surfaces are kind to seeds. On clay or hard courts, one would expect the seeded players to at least beat the unseeded players, with one or two exceptions here and there. The grass surface isn’t that kind to the seeds. Famously, “The sweetness of grass is tasted by few.” This phrase sits accurately for the first two days at this year’s Queen’s Club Championships.
Seeds find it tough going at Queen’s
It was an exciting couple of days for the British crowd that had turned up at Queen’s. They witnessed four out of the eight seeds bow out in the very first round, explaining why grass courts are a challenge. The eight seeds of the event are-
1. Carlos Alcaraz
2. Jack Draper
3. Taylor Fritz
4. Holger Rune
5. Alex De Minaur
6. Ben Shelton
7. Francis Tiafoe
8. Jacub Mensik
Out of this elite, only Alcaraz, Draper, Rune, and Mensik made it to the second round. The most shocking exit, though, was of American Taylor Fritz. Having just won a title in Stuttgart, he was one of the contenders for the event in London but had to bow out rather shockingly to Frenchman Corentin Moutet.
De Minaur wasn’t given a look into the second round by some sharp tennis from Jiri Lehecka, who won in straight sets. Ben Shelton was involved in tough two tiebreaks as he too was out in straight sets to Arthur Rinderknech. The third American to bow out in the first round was Francis Tiafoe, who has had a rough time on the tour in the last six months, and Queen’s was no different. He, too, was done in two sets to Dan Evans.
The remaining seeds didn’t have much of a problem in moving forward. Especially Alcaraz and Draper, who will be eyeing the title from here on. British crowds will be eager to see if the norm of seeds going forward will follow this time around. The crowd’s eyes are certainly locking on home player Jack Draper.
Main Photo Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
