Wimbledon 2025: Fognini goes down fighting against Alcaraz but his gesture wins a million hearts - WATCH

Carlos Alcaraz started his Wimbledon defence on Monday (Jun 30) with a win against Fabio Fognini and sailed into the second round. The win, however, didn't come easy as Fognini took Alcaraz to five sets to give the defending champion an early scare. Alcaraz eventually won 7-5, 6(5)-7(7), 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 but Fognini's gesture despite the loss won a million hearts. The Italian, after the loss, asked Alcaraz for a signed shirt for his son. "Can I have your t-shirt for my son Federico," Fognini was seen asked Alcaraz in a video shared by Wimbledon's official X handle.

As for the match, Alcaraz came into the contest as a clear favorite and on the back of his successful French Open defence. Fognini, however, gave the Spaniard a good fight but Alcaraz won the first set 7-5. The Italian did one better in the second set by taking it in the tie-break and eventually winning it.

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Alcaraz again fought tooth and nail to win the third set before Fognini won the fourth won rather easily. In the final and decisive set, Fognini seemed out of breath and ran out of steam as Alcaraz won it 6-1 to take the match. The win once again highlights the Spaniard's extreme physical and mental strength as visible in French Open 2025 final not so long ago when he saved three tournament points in the fourth set against Jannik Sinner to eventually win the title in an epic five-set thriller.

It was first time since Roger Federer narrowly beat Alejandro Falla in 2010 that a defending champion had been taken to a fifth set in the Wimbledon first round.

He is bidding to become the fifth man in the Open Era to win at least three consecutive Wimbledon titles after seven-time champion Djokovic, Bjorn Borg, Roger Federer and Pete Sampras.