Katie Boulter was in tears following her surprise defeat in the first round here on Tuesday and her misery summed up the desperate experience of the British big names at this Wimbledon.
There was an expectation on Court 3 that, after the home contingent lost all 10 of their encounters on Monday, Boulter would break the drought, having reached the third round twice before, and pour just a little solace on the bonfire of the Brits.
But in the event, the world No 60’s challenge quickly went up in flames as she was comfortably dispatched 6-4, 6-2 by an 18-year-old qualifier ranked outside the top 150. With Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu withdrawing in the build-up and Cameron Norrie losing to his own qualifier in American Michael Zheng, this completed the ignominy for the quartet.
In fact, this could have been the worst of the lot. There can be no doubt that in Tyra Caterina Grant, the daughter of a former NBA player, Italy has a star for the future, but nobody anticipated the manner of this shock. This was Grant’s debut in a grand slam and only her fourth appearance on grass after coming through three games at Roehampton last week to take her place in the main draw.
However, she blew away Boulter with her powerful serving, emphatic groundstrokes and a game blessed with variety. Boulter, who just two weeks ago beat world No 2 Elena Rybakina on her way to the semi-finals at Queen’s, had no answer and was still coming to terms with her exit when she fronted the media a few hours later. It was a query referencing her impending nuptials to Australian player Alex de Minaur that prompted the outpouring of emotions.
“I think this is the most challenging part about tennis. It’s so difficult to feel satisfied. I think it’s something you keep trying to strive for, but yeah…” she replied after being asked if this was still going to be the best month of her life. “Yeah, it’s tough. It’s tough. I can assure you it’s going to be the best day of my life in a while. But not today.”
The irony was that De Minaur was next on Court 3 after Boulter’s elimination and the world No 6 coped admirably in seeing off Argentinian Roman Andres Burruchaga 7-6, 6-1, 6-0 despite his fiancée’s distress.