Pete Sampras and Roger Federer’s dominance, bad news for Andy Murray

Five statistics about what went down at Wimbledon

1. Between them, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer have won 13 of the last 17 men’s singles titles at Wimbledon.

2. Andy Roddick becomes the second American man to lose three finals, following in the footsteps of former coach Jimmy Connors, who lost four.

3. Bad news for Andy Murray - not since Sampras’ first triumph in 1993 has a losing semi-finalist won the following year. Surprisingly, three of the last five

Posted: July 6th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | 1 Comment

It should be a thrilling day of quarter-finals at Wimbledon

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There were no surprises yesterday as the top four women’s seeds reached the semis (we thought Azarenka might pull off a shock before remembering she was facing a Williams sister at Wimbledon). The men’s quarter-final draw couldn’t be better though: Federer v Karlovic sees the enduring grass master face the in-form King of Aces, Djokovic v Haas is a repeat of the Halle final, Roddick v Hewitt sees two of the decade’s finest grass court players handed another chance to shine and then there’s Murray v Ferrero, the weakest of the line-up but with huge public interest. Here are three stats on each match:

Tommy Haas (24) v Novak Djokovic (4)
» Djokovic has a 2-1 head-to-head record with Haas but the German beat him in the final at Halle on grass last month.
» This is the furthest Haas has ever got at Wimbledon, continuing a trend where each of the last seven Halle winners have reached the last eight. He has reached three Grand Slam semis but all in Australia.
» Djokovic has won 13 of his last 15 quarter-finals and has reached the last four of six of the last seven tournaments he’s entered.

Lleyton Hewitt v Andy Roddick (6)
» Both men have won 27 career titles, reached four Grand Slam finals and won at Queen’s four times. Therefore it’s no surprise that they are almost inseparable head-to-head, with Hewitt holding a 6-5 advantage.
» Roddick has the advantage on grass though having won their two previous

Posted: July 1st, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | 1 Comment

Victoria Azarenka is capable of shocking Serena Williams

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It’s ladies day today at Wimbledon as all four women’s quarter-finals take place. Here are three stats about each encounter:

Dinara Safina (1) v Sabine Lisicki
» The pair have only met once before, with Lisicki beating Safina in three sets at last year’s Australian Open.
» The bad news for the German is that only one unseeded woman has reached the last four in the last eight years - Jie Zheng last year.
» The world number one has won eight of her last nine quarter-final matches.

Victoria Azarenka (8) v Serena Williams (2)
» Serena holds the 2-1 head-to-head advantage but Azarenka has shown she can hang with the ten-time Grand Slam champion this year.
» At the Australian Open she won the first set before retiring in the second

Posted: June 30th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Stanislas Wawrinka may face more round of 16 heartache

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After a Wimbledon-less Sunday, things get very exciting today as every single man and woman left in the single’s tournaments will be in action. Here are three stats about each of what we consider today’s four main matches:

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Andy Murray v Stanislas Wawrinka
» Murray has a 4-3 head-to-head record against Wawrinka and has won four of their last five clashes. They have never met on grass.
» The world number three has won all three of the duo’s meetings at the round of 16. Wawrinka has exited five of his last eight tournaments at that stage, with four of those losses coming against players ranked in the top five.
» The Swiss 24-year-old hasn’t reached the last eight of a Grand Slam in 17 career attempts, whereas Murray has done so in three of his last four.

Robin Soderling v Roger Federer
» Soderling and Federer have met ten times and the world number two has

Posted: June 29th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Serena and Venus bid to win their eighth title in ten years

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Photo Credit: Fiona Hanson/PA Wire

Between them, the Williams sisters have won seven of the last nine ladies’ singles titles at Wimbledon, reaching the final a further four times and winning the ladies’ doubles three times for good measure. With Maria Sharapova already out and Dinara Safina fresh from bottling yet another Grand Slam final at Roland Garros last month, it looks like they could be left fighting each other again. Here’s a look at the five favourites in the betting:

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Serena Williams
Serena is the most successful active women’s tennis player with ten Grand Slams but she hasn’t won Wimbledon since 2003, a Grand Slam drought only topped by her seven year (and counting) wait for a second French Open title. The woman named second seed has only won Wimbledon twice in the last 16 years but they were on both of the occasions that a Williams sister held that position - Venus in 2001 and Serena in 2002. There have been just five occasions in the Open Era where the losing lady has come back to win the following year and the last to do so was Jana Novotna 11 years ago.

Venus Williams
Venus has dominated Wimbledon this decade, reaching seven finals and winning five - including three of the last four - but has a fair way to go before rivalling Martina Navratilova (nine) and Steffi Graf (seven) as SW19’s greatest Open Era champion. She hasn’t been in great form recently, winning

Posted: June 25th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Murray has a chance to make a statement against Gulbis

Five stats about the world number three’s second round match

After an underwhelming performance against Robert Kendrick in the first round, Andy Murray needs to make a statement to prove that he really is a genuine contender to win Wimbledon. A straight-sets victory over Ernests Gulbis tomorrow would do just that:

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» The Latvian has lost just two of his first 22 Grand Slam matches in straight sets. That compares favourably with the records of Roger Federer (five) and Rafael Nadal (four) while breaking through and is on a par with Murray and Novak Djokovic.

» Gulbis was the only man besides Federer to take a set off Nadal last year at Wimbledon - winning the opener of their second-round match 7-5 to become the only man to hold a set lead over the Spaniard at SW19 in 2008.

Posted: June 24th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment