Why Have There Been So Many Upsets at Wimbledon?

Wimbledon has been historic this year, with more upsets occurring than the tournament has seen in decades. The first round alone saw the losses of pre-tournament favorite and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens, 2004 champion Maria Sharapova, sixth seed Caroline Garcia, and fifth seed Elina Svitolina. Top players continued to fall as each round finished, including Garbine Muguruza, Caroline Wozniacki, Venus Williams and Simona Halep. On Monday, Karolina Pliskova fell, marking the first time all of the top-10 women’s players had lost before the quarterfinals of a major in the open era.

The grass court has been blamed, but it is also possible that this is just a preview of where tennis is headed. Consistency might be a thing of the past, and tennis might just look different after Roger Federer and Serena Williams.