Is the article necessary?

I realize, Julielai, since you are an advanced moderator, that this has to be more complicated than my comment might appear to suggest.  But I'm in the fray now, and will have more interest in following closely all the responses to come.

Even if the phrase isn't turned around, I wonder if the intent of 'the' is to express something like: 'the hapless player, poor Mr. Johansson'.

Hello Julielai

I don't know whether <the+adjective+proper name> is correct or not. But actually we come across such a collocation. I'll show you some examples that I found online.

• Congressman, he sent the Rev. Cook and elegant hand Bible, a beautiful walking cane, and other priceless pledges of friendship, which were treasured by this dear man long after the brave Crocket fell at the Alamo.
• For the person who says save your money for when you need a lawyer, nobody not even the rich Bill Gates can afford a lawyer for all 50 states and Canada.
• We could tell at night by the sound whether the troops passing along the streets were on the saddles of the Yanks, as they squeaked like new and the thud and tramp of the cavalry horses proclaimed their well shod steeds - while the poor Johnny Rebs made a very different impression in their turn.
• Mary leaves Monte Carlo, but an old friend, Molly Maxwell, arrives and exposes the truth. Prince Vanno goes in search of the innocent Mary, arriving in time to save his love from adventurers who are attempting to steal her wealth.

paco

Hi Julielai,

I did correct my reference to you as a moderator...see my subsequent post.  One more time:  Get us the edit button working, folks.  

(And the reason I mentioned the misspelled word is that if the Wimbledon editor missed the spelling error, maybe the 'the' is also a missed error.)

Hello Julielai

You are right that "the rich Bill Gate" implies that everyone knows Bill Gate being rich. But as for "the innocent Mary", it sounds to me as if the writer expresses his/her emotion toward Mary. Probably the writer of your article also wanted to express his/her sympathy toward Johansson.

paco