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

Stats about the six leading contenders to win Wimbledon

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Hint: It’s everybody in the picture above except Davydenko and Simon

After waiting for an eternity to see Roger Federer dethroned and a new champion crowned, Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal with injury guarantees that there will once again be a changing of the guard at Wimbledon. Here are some statistics about the six men that the bookmakers consider the frontrunners:

Roger Federer
Best Wimbledon Performance: Winner (2003, 2004, 2005, ‘06, ‘07)
Grass Court Win Rate (prior to Wimbledon 2009): 87%
The world number two was unbeaten in 65 matches on grass prior to last year’s final defeat to Nadal and is quite rightly favourite to regain his title in the Spaniard’s absence. However, coming back from losing the previous year’s final is difficult, with Nadal the only person in the last 18 years to have done so, and nobody since Rod Laver in 1962 has completed a French Open-Wimbledon double at the first time of asking (Bjorn Borg and Nadal both have but not in the year of their first win at Roland Garros).

Andy Murray
Best Wimbledon Performance: Quarter-finals (2008)
Grass Court Win Rate: 78%

Posted: June 23rd, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Roger Federer and Fernando Gonzalez are favourites to make the French Open Final

A 2007 Australian Open Final repeat could be on the cards

Over the course of the last 14 Grand Slams there has only been one final that has occurred more than once - with Roger Federer facing Rafael Nadal seven times in that period. However, the bookmakers make Federer and Fernando Gonzalez favourites to win their semi-finals and set up a repeat of the 2007 Australian Open Final. Here are all the key stats about today’s matches:

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Robin Soderling v Fernando Gonzalez
Soderling has taken care of David Ferrer, Nadal and Nikolay Davydenko to get this far but now has to conquer Gonzalez, who he has lost four straight clashes with, two of which were on clay. Over the last three years, every men’s semi-final at Roland Garros has been won by the player who won the pair’s previous meeting. Both men have had sensational tournaments so far, with Soderling dropping just two sets and Gonzalez one so it should be close. The Chilean is a worthy favourite though having excelled in his only other Grand Slam semi (Australian Open 2007), beating Tommy Haas 6-1 6-3 6-1.

Posted: June 5th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

There could yet be another upset in the French Open women’s semi-finals

History dictates that a Safina/Kuznetsova final is far from certain

Top seed Dinara Safina and Serena-conquering Svetlana Kuznetsova are strong favourites to overcome Dominika Cibulkova and Samantha Stosur in today’s French Open semi-finals. However, in ten of the last 11 years at least one of the women’s semis has been won by the lower seed, meaning there is potential for an upset.

Dinara Safina v Dominika Cibulkova
The major concern for Safina will be that the top seed has made the final just once in nine years at Roland Garros, with four falling at the semi-finals over that period. The Russian lost the final last year and it is notoriously difficult to bounce back, with Ana Ivanovic last year becoming the first woman to do it since 1996. Safina has won her two previous meetings with the Slovakian in straight sets but Cibulkova, who has never been this far at a Grand Slam before, has dropped just 15 games in her last four matches.

Posted: June 4th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Local hero Gael Monfils tries to take down Roger Federer

Previews of today’s four French Open quarter-final matches

Usually it’s the women’s tournament that produces the biggest upsets but yesterday two more male favourites were sent packing as Robin Soderling and Fernando Gonzalez took care of Nikolay Davydenko and Andy Murray. The man hoping to make the year of the underdog continue today is Gael Monfils, the last remaining Frenchman in the tournament, who meets favourite Roger Federer, who knocked him out 12 months ago:

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Sorana Cirstea v Samantha Stosur
The Grand Slam quarter-final stage is unfamiliar territory for both of these women, neither of whom are in the top 30 of the world rankings. There’s not much to go on as the pair have never clashed before but Cirstea has only dropped one set so far compared to Stosur’s two. Both have taken high-profile scalps, with the 19-year-old Romanian stopping Jelena Jankovic, who reached the semi-finals in 2007 and 2008, and Australian Stosur getting rid of former finalist Elena Dementieva. Stosur is the favourite here.

Svetlana Kuznetsova v Serena Williams
Serena/Safina is the final that most expect but Kuznetsova won’t roll over for the self-proclaimed world number one. In the last three years, the Russian has reached the final, quarter-finals and semi-finals at Roland Garros, whereas Williams last got past this point in 2003. In fact, four of Serena’s last

Posted: June 3rd, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Fernando Gonzalez will offer Andy Murray his first real test

Previews of today’s four French Open quarter-final matches

Considering Andy Murray had only previously won two matches at Roland Garros, his path to the quarter-finals this year has been surprisingly straight-forward. With Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic eliminated, this is being viewed as a great chance for him to break his Grand Slam duck but today’s last eight clash with Fernando Gonzalez is unlikely to be a walkover:

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Robin Soderling v Nikolay Davydenko
Soderling recorded one of the most historic victories in French Open history by eliminating the previously unbeaten Nadal in the last round but building on that success could prove a tough task. The last two men to knock the world number one out of a Grand Slam - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Australia last year and Murray at Flushing Meadows - were beaten in the next round. This is the first time the Swede has got this far in a Grand Slam whereas Davydenko has reached the semi-finals twice before at Roland Garros alone. Intriguingly, Soderling has won their two previous meetings on clay though.

Andy Murray v Fernando Gonzalez
Murray have never met Gonzalez on clay before but will need to be at his best because the Chilean is enjoying a fantastic season on the surface. Gonzalez has reached the final four in all three of the clay tournaments he has entered

Posted: June 2nd, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment