Are We Wrong About These Players?

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Wimbledon 2022 is well underway with Rafael Nadal not missing a beat after a three-year absence from The Championships, and Carlos Alcaraz not letting lack of experience in grass courts affect him. Meanwhile, the two No. 1 seeds, Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek, continue to take care of business in their respective matche.

Nadal -- seeded No. 2 fresh off winning the French Open -- advanced to the third round after getting past Ricardas Berankis 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 on Thursday, earning his 307th Major match victory.

Djokovic is also having a solid week. He continued to cruise at the All England Club on Friday by beating Miomir Kecmanovic 6-0, 6-3. 6-4 in the third round. The world No. 3 became the only player to ever register at least 80 wins at all four Grand Slam events on Monday after defeating Soonwoon Kwon on Centre Court. Djokovic is set to take on Tim Van Rijthoven on Sunday for the Round of 16.

Alcaraz, the 19-year-old Spanish star and No. 5 seed became the youngest man to reach the fourth round since 2011 after taking down Oscar Otte 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 on Friday. Not bad for only being his third grass tournament. Alcaraz will take on another young star, 20-year-old Jannik Sinner, on Sunday. 

On the women's side, Swiatek had a strong start against Jana Feat from Croatia, winning 6-0, 6-3 in the first round. She continued her winning ways against Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove on Thursday, which means her impressive streak is now at 37 straight victories. One of those includes her 2022 French Open title. Swiatek is now set to meet Alize Cornet for Saturday's third round. 

American Coco Gauff, the No. 11 seed and French Open runner-up, is still in it after winning 6-2, 6-3 against Mihaela Buzarnescu in the second round.

Serena Williams took the court for the first time since the 2021 installment of Wimbledon on Tuesday. She had not played since last June, when she suffered a hamstring injury during her opening-round match at the All England Club. Williams' match against Harmony Tan was a close one, but Tan walked away as the winner by going 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) after three hours and 11 minutes on the court. Williams had to retire in the first round at the All England Club last year -- her only first-round exit prior to this year -- but this is the first time she's lost a match in the first round at Wimbledon and just the second time she's been beaten on the court in the first round of a Grand Slam (2012 French Open).

For the most part, the tops seeds are doing well, but Julie Niemeier pulled off an upset against No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit, winning 6-4, 6-0 during Wednesday's second round. Kontaveith has been suffering from long-term effects from COVID-19. On the men's side, Ugo Humbert put up a competitive fight to take down No. 3 seed Casper Ruud by a score of 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4. More impressively, he did so after forgetting to bring a racket .

Other Wimbledon headlines include Marin Cilic, not a favorite but definitely a strong dark horse, pulling out of the competition after testing positive for COVID-19.  No. 8 seed Matteo Berrettini, the 2021 Wimbledon runner-up, also withdrew due to a positive test result. 

No players of Russian or Belarusian nationality are allowed to play in the tournament. Wimbledon made that decision in April  after Russia invaded Ukraine. As a result of the ban, some of the top players in the sport will miss out on Wimbledon, including men's world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev and women's world No. 6 Aryna Sabalenka.

Here's everything you need to know about the 2022 Wimbledon:

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