Wimbledon 2025 results: No. 3 Alexander Zverev stunned by Arthur Rinderknech in first round upset

World No. 3 Alexander Zverev experienced unwanted deja vu Tuesday at Wimbledon, losing in the opening round for the second time in his career at London’s All England Lawn Tennis Club. Zverev held serve in the fourth set to force and win a tiebreak before Rinderknech responded with the biggest close-out of his career 7-6, 6-7, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4.

Rinderknech, who didn’t lose his serve throughout the match, had lost 18 of the 25 matches played in 2025 before the 72nd-ranked player brought out his best on grass. He is 2-16 career against top 10 opponents, the only other victory coming against American Ben Shelton earlier this year.

Zverev had a bad miss beyond the baseline on a passing shot on serve at 40-30 in the third game of the fifth set and was broken two points later by Rinderknech after coming up short on a two-hand backhand try.

Rinderknech took the next game with ease on serve along with a commanding 3-1 advantage in the final set. A couple games later, Rinderknech’s monster forehand finished off Zverev in the eighth game of the fifth for a 5-3 lead.

Zverev barely got a racket on Rinderknech’s well-placed return as the Wimbledon crowd cheered loudly for the underdog prior to the changeover. On match point No. 3 at 5-4, Rinderknech clinched the victory with a winner. Rinderknech nearly won the match earlier after benefitting from consecutive forehand errors from Zverev to open the fourth-set tiebreak, including a swat that struck the net cord and sailed wide. 

However, the 6-foot-6 German wasn’t finished. At 4-3 in the tiebreak, Rinderknech forced a backhand that went long from Zverev before failing on a forehand to keep his opponent in the match. Zverev knotted the tiebreak at five after winning a rally on his next serve before taking a one-point lead on an ace that traveled 136 miles per hour.

Rinderknech lost the set on serve when an attempted drop shot landed in the net, pushing the match to five sets.

Zverev said before the match he was starting to feel more comfortable on Wimbledon’s surface.

“I didn’t particularly love grass before, but I do feel like the last few years I’ve been playing well on the surface, especially last year we said I felt like I was playing my best tennis at Wimbledon, but then I got injured, unfortunately, in the third round against Cam Norrie,” Zverev said, via Tennis365. “I hope this year is going to be no different and hopefully without injury and we’ll see how far I can go and what I can do at this time.”

Zverev, who best finish at Wimbledon features three fourth-round appearances, is coming off a French Open quarterfinals loss to Novak Djokovic earlier this summer and blamed the weather on his inconsistent play.

Zverev has never won a Grand Slam and has lost three times in respective finals, including the 2025 Australian Open. Zverev is now 35-14 in singles matches on the year with his lone tournament victory coming at the BMW Open.