If some people on the planet still couldn’t appreciate the amazing nature of Roger Federer’s streak of 20 straight Grand Slam singles semifinals, those foggy-minded folks might finally see the light after the third day of play at the 2009 Wimbledon Championships.

In a development that won’t grab headlines in the London tabloids, three of the four players who lost in last year’s Wimbledon semifinals are already headed home, just half a week into the tournament. On Tuesday, 2008 men’s semifinalist Marat Safin got knocked out of the All-England Club, and on Wednesday, two more semifinalists were handed their walking papers on at the world’s most famous tennis facility.

On the men’s side, Germany’s Rainer Schuettler fell to Israel’s Dudi Sela, 7-6, 6-3, 6-2, in a second-round match on Court 12. Schuettler, the No. 18 seed at the All-England Club, gained that top-20 slot due to last year’s final four showing, which culminated with a gutsy performance in a straight-set semifinal loss to eventual champion Rafael Nadal. This time around, there would be no magic for the 33-year-old who has been toiling at Grand Slam events since 1998.

When Schuettler shot into the semis 12 months ago, the tennis community was shocked not just because of the German’s age or his journeyman status, but because he hadn’t shown any signs of being a threat at Wimbledon or anywhere else on the slam circuit. Before his spectacular 2008 result at SW19, Schuettler’s only other deep run at a major came in the 2003 Australian Open, when he lost to Andre Agassi in the championship match. Tennis has its share of dangerous floaters who occasionally produce a semifinal surge at a slam, but Schuettler was considered an also-ran when he came to England last summer. This loss to Sela in the round of 64 is an accurate reflection of the trajectory of Schuettler’s career; the joyride of 2008 marked an exception to the veteran’s career.

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On the women’s side of the divide, 2008 semifinalist Zheng Jie bowed out of the competition by enduring a 6-3, 7-5 loss to Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova. For the 16th seed from China, the result mirrored the nature of Schuettler’s stumble.

Much as Schuettler lacked an impressive track record at major tournaments coming into last year’s Wimbledon, Zheng offered a similarly thin resume before winning five matches and playing well into the second week on the lawns of suburban London. Zheng had never reached the quarterfinals of any slam event before cracking the semis at Centre Court in 2008. The 25-year-old’s sudden emergence caught the WTA Tour by surprise, and when Zheng battled Serena Williams on even terms in the second set of her semifinal match, it appeared reasonable to conclude that the veteran–who has competed in slams since 2004–would have more quarterfinals and semifinals ahead of her.

Now, after dropping a straight-setter to the talented but inconsistent Hantuchova, Zheng can’t deny the fact that her sensational 2008 performance did not carry over to this year. Rainer Schuettler (like Marat Safin) knows the feeling all too well.

The truth of the matter is sobering and stunning at the same time: For three performers (Elena Dementieva is the only 2008 semifinalist still alive in this tournament), making two straight Wimbledon semifinals proved to be incredibly difficult. Such a reality makes Federer’s run of 20 straight slam semis–plus his active streak of six consecutive Wimbledon semifinal appearances–that much more eye-popping.

It’s extraordinarily challenging to maintain top-level consistency in the world of professional tennis. The first few days of The Championships have proven this fact in a particularly powerful way.

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