Quick Served: Wimbledon Day 2

Grading Serena’s effort, Shelton’s crash and Fritz’s man-purse

Jul 01, 2026

Context-free soundbite: “He looked like Don Johnson.”

And just like that, half of the Wimbledon field is out—Ben Shelton shockingly included. Andy and JW met up at the Served clubhouse to recap Day 2, from Shelton’s puzzling crash to Iga Swiatek’s tears to Serena Williams’s emotional performance.

Stateside, Blair dug up seven facts you may not know about Wimbledon, including the name behind the longest-running sponsorship in sports.

Watch Quick Served Day 2 on YouTube

The Rundown

Serena Williams (Photo credit: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian)

Serena Williams lost but took Maya Joint the distance—or was it the other way around? Who was the favorite in the marquee match of Week 1? In the Bracket Challenge, 55 of you picked Williams to win the entire tournament. Williams loves superheroes, and she has convinced some fans that she is one. But even GOATs are mortal.

Joint did not play like someone on an 11-match losing streak, and Williams did not play like someone fresh out of retirement. The GOAT wasn’t her old self, but neither did she cut the image of an aged athlete out of her depth—at least, for most of the night.

Trailing a set and a break, Williams saved a match point and stretched it to a decider. She went up an early break before fading around the two-hour mark. On ESPN’s wrap-up show, Andy speculated that she lost her legs a bit and her serve cooled off. Joint held her nerve to close out the match 6-3, 6-7, 6-3. This was the Maya Joint who won two titles last year as a teenager and got to No. 28 in the world.

We will see Williams in doubles later this week. After that? Caroline Wozniacki, her good friend, expects her to play singles at the US Open—and to be in better form than she was today.

Williams did not attend a post-match press conference.

🎤 Maya Joint
“When we were in that hallway before we walk out onto Centre Court, that was the craziest moment of my life. Just watching all the greats and legends do that, for me to do that as well was just insane.”

Bracket Busters

Worried about your bracket after Ben Shelton’s and Elina Svitolina’s shock losses? A lot of Chuckers had them going deep, so like Jannik Sinner’s early exit at Roland Garros, the upsets won’t be as catastrophic as you might think.

Otto Virtanen def. Ben Shelton [4] 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 6-2, 7-6
Daria Snigur def. Elina Svitolina [8] 7-5, 6-2
Jaume Munar def. Francisco Cerundolo [18] 6-1, 6-4, 6-3
Maria Sakkari def. Clara Tauson [24] 6-3, 6-3
Ashlyn Krueger def. Donna Vekic [31] 3-6, 7-6, 6-4
Tyra Grant def. Katie Boulter 6-4, 6-2

Served Bracket Challenge Leaderboard

Perfect Delivery: Towel Boy

This edition isn’t just verbal. After winning their four-set, four-hour battle, Matteo Berrettini chased Stan Wawrinka off the court to hand him a retirement gift–the tournament towel Wawrinka left behind on court.

🎤 Matteo Berrettini
“I wanted to give him the last towel that he played here [with]. It’s a great memory for everybody. I wouldn’t have minded to keep it, but he wanted it.”

Wimbledon@Wimbledon

What a lovely gesture, @MattBerrettini 🥺 #Wimbledon

9:58 PM · Jun 30, 2026 · 61.9K Views

17 Replies · 148 Reposts · 1.31K Likes

7

Number of Slams Serena Williams won before Maya Joint was born

It’s hard to wrap our heads around what Williams did today by gamely competing against a player less than half her age. Her trophy case was already full before Joint existed. Forget the physical aspect of Williams’s comeback–this stat speaks to her passion for tennis, something that’s impossible to measure but easy to recognize. Today we didn’t witness greatness. We witnessed love, and it meant everything.

Andy's Take on the Stat of the Day

Tiebreak Trivia

At 41 years and 94 days, Stan Wawrinka is the third-oldest man to play a Wimbledon match in this century. Who are the two older players?

💡 The answer will be in Day 3’s Quick Served newsletter.

Day 1 answer: Alejandro Davidovich Fokina had won over $11.7 million when he captured his first ATP Tour title on Saturday, making him the richest active player without a title. Now Jaume Munar leads the list with $7.3 million. (h/t Sportico)

Quick Hits

Novak Djokovic crashed Aryna Sabalenka’s press conference and graded her intensity. “Too flat. Lighten up.”
In his own press conference, Djokovic advocated for shorter matches outside of Slams to appeal to younger fans and their shrinking attention spans. “We must dare to innovate.”
Both Queen’s Club champions, Donna Vekic and Francisco Cerundolo, lost today.
Wild card Arthur Fery was one of four British players to make it out of the first round. The secret? Earplugs.
Corentin Moutet’s racquet-breaking technique leaves something to be desired. Say this: He didn’t give up.
Elena Rybakina reached 300 tour-level match wins today.
Men’s doubles starts tomorrow, and women’s doubles kicks off Thursday.
Taylor Fritz and Hugo Boss upped their game ⬇️