Tallon Griekspoor was eliminated in the first round at Wimbledon on Monday. The leading player of Dutch tennis was surprised by the American Jenson Brooksby: 6-2, 7-5 and 6-3.
Griekspoor came to London with a lot of confidence after his surprising tournament win on Mallorca on Sunday, but nothing of that was visible on court 14 of Wimbledon Park.
The 28-year-old Griekspoor never got into his game against world number 101 Brooksby, who surprisingly reached the final of the Eastbourne grass tournament last week. The North Hollander was cursing and swearing on the court.
For Griekspoor, the early elimination is another disappointment at Wimbledon. He never got past the second round at the Grand Slam tournament in London. Earlier this month, he reached the fourth round at Roland Garros. In it, he retired with an abdominal muscle injury.
Griekspoor makes many mistakes
With the recent tournament win on Mallorca in mind, Griekspoor (ATP-29) was the big favorite in the match against Brooksby (ATP-101), but it quickly became clear on court 14 that the roles had been reversed.
Griekspoor made many mistakes and double faults in the opening set and was already a break behind in the fourth game. The North Hollander was unable to recover and lost the first set by a large margin.
In the second set, Griekspoor seemed to be doing better, because he cashed in his first break chances in the third game. He quickly had to give up that break lead again, after which a new barrage of abuse followed. “In the Netherlands you will be rejected if you play like this”, he said, among other things.
Griekspoor lost the second set by a narrow margin, but played a lost match despite clearing four match points. Out of frustration, he even hit balls against or over the fence. It all fitted in with a hopeless evening for Griekspoor in London.