The first-round matches at Wimbledon 2017 have produced a little bit of everything expected from top-level: upsets, superb performances, comebacks from injury, retirements due to injury, expectations met, dreams already dashed, and points proven.

The biggest shock so far was Daniil Medvedev’s four-set victory over Stan Wawrinka. The Swiss knows grass is his weakest surface and hired Paul Annacone to try and improve his fortunes on the surface but it did not work for him this time around. His defeat really opens up his quarter of the draw, with 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga now the clear favorite to reach the last eight. There are three players with the ability to derail the Frenchman, however, and it will be interesting to see if either Sam Querrey, Kevin Anderson, or Medvedev is up to the task.

Given his prowess on grass, Nick Kyrgios would have been Andy Murray’s most likely fourth round opponent, but his unfortunate retirement due to a hip injury gifts Lucas Pouille a great chance to reach the last 16 and play the Brit.

Despite Ivo Karlovic’s surprise loss to Aljaz Bedene, Rafael Nadal’s quarter still features two major banana skins for the Spaniard: Gilles Muller and Karen Khachanov. Nevertheless, the French Open champion was in such stunning form in his opener that he will be expected to reach the quarter-final regardless of who he plays up to that point. Nadal’s last-eight foe is likely to be either Marin Cilic or Kei Nishikori after both players romped to victory in their first-round matches. The Croatian is the safe bet, however, as he is in better form and is generally better on grass than the Japanese.

The other half of the men’s draw was hit by the disappointing retirements of Martin Klizan (from his match with Novak Djokovic), Alexandr Dolgopolov (who was playing Roger Federer) and Feliciano Lopez. The first two retirements meant less tennis for the fans on centre court to enjoy on Tuesday, which is a real shame. It makes no difference to the draw, of course, as the Serb and the Swiss were expected to win, and still remain on course to meet in the semi-final.

Before he can even contemplate such a clash, Djokovic may have to face Juan Martin Del Potro, who survived an entertaining four-set encounter with Thanasi Kokkinakis. The winner of Djokovic versus Del Potro could face Gael Monfils in the fourth round after the Frenchman stormed to a straight-sets win over Daniel Brands to set up a second-round clash with Brit Kyle Edmund. Richard Gasquet became one of the highest seeds to fall in the men’s draw when he suffered a surprising four-set loss to David Ferrer. That result makes a fourth-round battle between Tomas Berdych and Dominic Thiem increasingly likely. All the seeds won in the quarter that features Federer and Milos Raonic so that could be the toughest section of the draw to emerge from.

In the women’s draw, the surprising results mostly featured players seeded between 15 and 30. 20th seed Daria Gavrilova lost to Petra Martic, 16th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was defeated by Arina Rodionova and 30th seed Zhang Shuai fell to Viktorija Golubic, which leaves one of the tournament favorites Karolina Pliskova as the only seeded player left in her quarter. The Czech could still face a tough quarter-final, however, as potential opponents Caroline Wozniacki, Kristina Mladenovic, Coco Vandeweghe, Daria Kasatkina, and Anett Kontaveit all won their opening matches.

Losses by seeds in the first quarter of the draw may also make life easier for some of the top players. 23rd seed Kiki Bertens, who was due to face Garbine Muguruza in round three, lost in straight sets to Sorana Cirstea. And 28th seed Lauren Davis fell to Varvara Lepchenko, which may make Svetlana Kuznetsova’s path easier. Regardless, the first quarter remains a very tricky section of the draw as it also still includes World No.1 Angelique Kerber, 2012 Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska, and 2015 French Open runner-up Lucie Safarova after their victories in round one.

The bottom half of the draw looks even more difficult to negotiate after all but two of the seeds progressed to round two (Mirjana Lucic-Baroni and Roberta Vinci were the casualties). Of the victorious seeds, Simona Halep, Elina Svitolina, Jelena Ostapenko, Caroline Garcia, Madison Keys and Ana Konjuh produced the most impressive performances in their openers, but Petra Kvitova, Johanna Konta, Dominika Cibulkova, and Venus Williams will also be exceptionally tough opposition for anyone to face. It is all set up for a fantastic battle to win the Ladies Singles at Wimbledon this year.

On a different note, some results in the women’s draw are remarkable not because of their scorelines, but because of the circumstances in which they have been achieved. Kvitova only returned to the WTA tour at the French Open after she was forced into a six-month absence when a burglar stabbed her playing hand in December 2016. Keys won despite undergoing her second wrist surgery of the year after the French Open. Svitolina beat tough opponent Ashleigh Barty in straight sets even though she is currently taking painkillers for her injured heel. Radwanska is battling a foot injury and Konta survived her first-round match just days after a heavy fall in Eastbourne.

It is often easy to forget the difficulties that professional sportspeople sometimes have to face, and the struggles of these women, and men like Kokkinakis who have only recently returned from injury, puts into perspective the unrealistic expectations some overzealous fans have for their favorite players. As Keys said after her match yesterday, “No matter who you are, what you do, just be nice. Like, let's just stop being bullies face to face, online, whatever. Just stop.”

photos courtesy of Chaz Niell