By mid-afternoon on the third day of the tournament, the polite chatter and manicured lawns of the All England Club had become more of a field hospital full of anguished cries as players dropped like nine pins. Seven athletes, from the feted conqueror of Rafael Nadal, Steve Darcis, to the fancied Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and the women's second seed, Victoria Azarenka, were forced to withdraw and several others suffered injuries. Caroline Wozniacki, the ninth seed and former world No1, crashed out in straight sets to Petra Cetkovska after falling and twisting her ankle on Court Two.
Women's third seed Sharapova, who fell three times on the same spot on the baseline as Wozniacki, could be seen mouthing: "How many more times?" The broadcast microphones also picked up the former champion saying: "This court is dangerous." Afterwards she refused to use the quality of the surface as an excuse but asked about her on-court remarks, she said: "After I buckled my knee three times, that's obviously my first reaction."
After her right leg gave way for a third time she complained to a line judge. Later in the third set she had extensive treatment on a hip injury and afterwards suggested players should be allowed to practise on the show courts to get used to the surface. Larcher de Brito also hit out at the court as "really slippery and quite dangerous" after defeating Sharapova. "There is a lot of dead grass at the top end that made it slippery. I tried to be careful and take small steps rather than trying to stop right away. It's a tough court to play on."
The spate of injuries exacerbated concern over the state of the courts and speculation whether rule changes and the intensive schedule of the modern tour had contributed. One of those affected, Marin Cilic, labelled it "a very black day". Tsonga, the French sixth seed who came into Wimbledon on good form, was troubled by a knee injury that severely impeded his movement against Ernests Gulbis and he retired two sets to one down. The other players forced to withdraw on Wednesday were the American John Isner, the former quarter-finalist Radek Stepanek and Yaroslava Shvedova.
Although All England Club officials insisted there was nothing in their preparation of the courts that could have led to the freakish spate of withdrawals, that did not stop the players speculating. Azarenka, the Belarusian second seed, was due to play Flavia Pennetta in the second round on Centre Court but was forced to pull out with a knee injury that she suffered in a heavy fall during her opening match on Monday.
"The court was not in a very good condition that day. I mean, my opponent fell twice, I fell badly, there were some other people who fell after," she said. "So I don't know if it's the court or the weather. I can't figure it out. It would be great if the club or somebody who takes care of the court just would examine or try to find an issue so that wouldn't happen."
The All England Club chief executive, Richard Lewis, said: "We sympathise with all the players affected. The withdrawals have occurred for a variety of reasons, but there have been some suggestion that the court surface is to blame. We have no reason to think this is the case. Indeed, many players have complimented us on the very good condition of the courts."
Of the spate of slips and injuries, which led to the highest number of withdrawals from a Grand Slam tournament in a single day, Wozniacki said: "I don't know if it's coincidence or if the court is a little bit more slippery or what exactly it is. I don't know. I just know that it's just not really fun to be out there when you feel like you can't really push off on your foot."
She said the court felt slower than previous years and played more like it did during the Olympics than during last year's tournament. Neil Stubley, who took over as head groundsman in 2012, prepared the courts for the Olympics but not for last year's tournament. However, the grass is typically more lush towards the beginning of Wimbledon fortnight and it was suggested that players who were not used to the surface may find the lack of purchase unfamiliar.
On Monday the Belgian journeyman Darcis, ranked 135 in the world, enjoyed the greatest moment of his career when he knocked out 12 time grand slam champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets. But less than 48 hours later he said he had been forced to make the most difficult decision of his life and pull out of his second round match, after the shoulder that he hurt while diving for the ball against Nadal became inflamed and excruciatingly painful.
Cilic's issues appeared similar to that endured by Nadal, who refused to blame an injury for his shock defeat but said that playing on grass was more difficult that playing on clay because of the lower angles. "It's more because of obviously much lower bounces, putting more pressure on my body and my knees, as I'm pretty tall," said a disappointed Cilic. "It also has a difficulty on movement. It's a bit tougher to move on grass than other surfaces."
Tsonga also had a knee problem but, rather than blaming the court, he said that the British weather had not helped his condition: "The weather is not that good to play tennis because it's cold outside, and it's humid. And I think for all the joints, it's not really good."
Kim Clijsters said that a new rule relating to the number of pimples allowed on the sole of the shoe could also be a factor. But an AELTC spokesman said that there had been no rule changes as regards footwear in recent years and nor had the grass used changed since 2001. The Grand Slam rule books specifies the number of pimples that a shoe can have and the specification of an alternative, approved grass court shoe.
The seven retirements and withdrawals on Wednesday took the total number to 10. The record total for an entire tournament at Wimbledon is 13 players (10 men and three women) in 2008.
Title: Maria Sharapova leads attack on 'dangerous' Wimbledon courts
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