Fourth seed Stephens blames Wimbledon exit on bad day

Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 2, 2018 Sloane Stephens of the U.S. in action during the first round match against Croatia's Donna Vekic REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens tumbled out of Wimbledon on the first day on Monday, looking rusty in her 6-1 6-3 defeat by Croatia's Donna Vekic, and blamed the result on a bad day against a good grasscourt player.

The 25-year-old fourth seed, who played no grass warm-up tournaments after reaching the final of the French Open on clay, looked uncomfortable on the fast surface, moving awkwardly and failing to find the lines.