Wimbledon

What a stark statistic for the nation of Bill Tilden and Don Budge, John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi: It's been 101 years since no men from the United States reached Wimbledon's third round.

As tumultuous a day as professional tennis has produced in its nearly half-century history ended in the most unforeseeable, unexplainable way of all: A second-round loss by Roger Federer at the All England Club.

After a week filled by a headline-grabbing, off-court tiff with Maria Sharapova and a series of apologies stemming from a magazine profile, Serena Williams got back to doing what she does best. Extending her winning streak to 32 matches, Williams began her bid for a sixth Wimbledon championship with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over 92nd-ranked Mandy Minella of Luxembourg on Tuesday.

Just like that, in a span of 15 days, Rafael Nadal went from French Open champion for a record eighth time to first-round Grand Slam loser for the only time in his career. Limping occasionally and slower than usual, but unwilling afterward to blame an old left knee injury, the two-time Wimbledon winner exited 7-6 (4), 7-6 (8), 6-4 Monday against 135th-ranked Steve Darcis of Belgium -- one of the most stunning results ever at the All England Club.

As her agent nodded along approvingly from a front-row seat, Serena Williams sounded contrite and composed. Well-rehearsed, too. More than half the questions at Sunday's session revolved around what Williams was quoted as saying in a recent magazine article -- and Maria Sharapova's surprisingly forceful verbal swipe in reaction to that story.