Questions surround Wimbledon Week 2

Associated Press

WIMBLEDON, England

Whew.

Good thing Wimbledon schedules its middle Sunday as a day off. This year, that gave everyone a chance to catch their breath after an eventful Week 1.

Really, when action resumes today with all 16 men’s and women’s fourth-round matches, what could Week 2 possibly have in store to equal what the first six days offered?

There was two-time champion Rafael Nadal’s loss in the second round to an unknown guy ranked 100th — a guy who was beaten in his next match. A day after Nadal’s exit, ending his streak of reaching five consecutive Grand Slam finals, Roger Federer, owner of six titles at the All England Club and a record 16 major trophies overall, dropped the first two sets of his third-round match ... before coming back to win.

There was five-time champion Venus Williams’ departure on Day 1; the only other time in 16 appearances at Wimbledon that she lost in the first round came during her debut in 1997 at age 17. Her younger sister, four-time champion Serena, is still around, but only barely. She pounded a tournament-record 23 aces to escape the third round with a 9-7 third-set victory.

As superb as both of the Williams siblings are, neither has pulled off what Serena’s next opponent managed to do Saturday: a perfect set. No woman had ever won all 24 points in a set in a professional match — and only one man had done it — until 65th-ranked Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan began that way against 10th-seeded Sara Errani of Italy, who was the runner-up at the French Open.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to win a point in the set,” Williams said, looking ahead and keeping a straight face. “That will be my first goal, and then I’ll go from there.”

The tournament seemed to become enamored of its retractable roof, pulling it shut over Centre Court so much that defending champion Novak Djokovic remarked: “I was a little bit surprised, when I saw sunshine, that the roof is closed. Obviously, they’re relying on a forecast that I don’t think is very reliable here.”

Let’s hope he’s right about that last part, because the outlook calls for a 60 or 70 percent chance of rain today, Tuesday and Wednesday.