July 1, India In her post-match speech, Elisabetta Cocciaretto jokingly apologized for being overly philosophical. Why wouldn't she be?

The Italian, who has a soft spot for grass, was hoping for a memorable Wimbledon last year at this time as a top-50 player, having reached her greatest Slam result at the French Open (fourth round). She was rather confined to a hospital bed due to a persistent case of pneumonia.

Despite starting 2024 with three straight first-round losses, she did manage to get to Wimbledon this year. However, she was no longer among the top 100 players. However, she defeated third-seeded Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-3 in 58 minutes during her debut performance at the All England Club.

"You have to accept what life throws at you," she said, prior to making the apology.

The 24-year-old would experience the greatest triumph of her career exactly one year after her worst FOMO experience. At the exact same event.

At the same At Wimbledon, in the No.2 Court, where she conquered the globe Men's world No.7 Lorenzo Musetti also went out in a hurry, losing to Nikoloz Basilashvili 2-6, 6-4, 5-7, 1-6 at No.3. The upset bug swiftly infected other courts from the first to the second day. In a match that carried over from Monday, men's third seed Alexander Zverev was defeated on Centre Court by unseeded Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech in a score of 6-7(3), 7-6(8), 3-6, 7-6(5), 4-6. Olympic gold medalist and fifth-seeded Qinwen Zheng also lost in three sets to Katerina Siniakova.

Given that the reigning US Open finalist had just won a grass court title in Bad Homburg on Saturday, Pegula stood out among them. It's no surprise that the Italian man who gave the American her first loss at a major since 2020 was smiling non stop.

She was unable to shake the sense of helplessness throughout last year's Wimbledon.

As a member of Italy's Billie Jean King Cup winning team of last year, Cocciaretto started the 2024 season by winning her third WTA 125 championship in Charleston. She defeated two seeded opponents at the French Open to reach the fourth round, where she faced Coco Gauff. Cocciaretto won her quarterfinal in Birmingham after switching to grass, a surface she enjoys. She had a high temperature and started sweating profusely that evening.

She still showed up for the semi-final match, where she was defeated in straight sets. She was still hopeful about attending her forthcoming competition in Bad Homburg, the last warm-up match before Wimbledon. Not meant to be.

"I was unable to walk or wake up from bed," she stated.

Cocciaretto was admitted to the hospital with mycoplasma virus pneumoniae as Wimbledon neared. She was ill for more than a month before she was able to participate in the Paris Olympics, where she lost in the first round.

After a year of switching from clay to grass, her success rate remained the same—she made it to the semi-finals in s-Hertogenbosch three weeks ago. The Italian was much more positive about catching the bus this year since he had missed it the previous year.

"I had a lot of stops last year," she remarked. "And that's why I was so pumped."

Also, so good. Cocciaretto broke Pegula's serve three times during the game and only lost eight points on it. She had 17 winners to Pegula's five.

For a player in the top five, especially one who had just won a title on the same surface three days prior, it's an unusually low number of wins. But in the recent past, going far in the warm-up events leading up to Wimbledon hasn't always resulted in a long run at the Big W. Pegula, the most recent and well-known example of this trend, had her left knee taped after the elimination of Daniil Medvedev, the Halle finalist.

In the first round of Wimbledon, four of this year's six grass-court tune-up event champions in women's singles have gone. Additional winners in that list include McCartney Kessler (Nottingham), Maya Joint (Eastbourne), and Tatjana Maria (Queen's).

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