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

Queen’s finalist James Blake out on day one at Wimbledon

Runner-up’s early exit puts Andy Murray’s triumph into context

It was with a degree of eggshell treading that we suggested last week that Andy Murray’s victory at Queen’s didn’t significantly boost his chances of winning Wimbledon.

Our feeling was that with Novak Djokovic opting to play in Halle and Andy Roddick and Gael Monfils pulling out with injuries, Murray didn’t beat anybody too noteworthy en route to the trophy.

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

Stats about the six leading contenders to win Wimbledon

Click here for all the latest odds on this year’s men’s singles

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

Is Andy Murray going to win Wimbledon this year?

chickendinner fans the flames of Murray mania

Our instincts tell us there is no way anyone other than Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal will win Wimbledon - after all they’ve won 16 of the last 17 Grand Slams between them. However, while Andy Murray seems far too short at 2/1, it’s impossible to ignore him. Here are some stats to help you judge the world number three’s chances of ending Britain’s drought:

BAD OMENS

» The third seed hasn’t won Wimbledon since 1990 and has only made the final in one of the last 14 years.

» 15 men have won their first Grand Slam from 1997 onwards but only two of those broke their duck at Wimbledon: Goran Ivanisevic (2001) and Federer (2003).

Posted: June 19th, 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:

Click here to check out the Ladbrokes’ French Open Wizard

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

Nadal takes over as favourite after easing past Gonzalez

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Andy Murray may be gone but the Australian Open men’s betting is still really tight ahead of the quarter-finals. Rafael Nadal has leapfrogged Roger Federer after crushing 2007 finalist Fernando Gonzalez but his toughest tests are yet to come:

Nadal [2.48] has yet to reach the final of a hard court Grand Slam. The world number one has yet to drop a set but could be tested properly in his quarter-final with Gilles Simon, who beat the Spaniard in Madrid three months ago.

Federer [3.45] needed five sets to overcome Tomas Berdych in the fourth round but three years ago he did the same against Tommy Haas before winning tournament. There has however only been one four-time champion since 1962 and that was Andre Agassi.

Novak Djokovic [8.6] is fairly distant considering he is the reigning champion although not since Jim Courier in 1993 has a first-time winner retained his crown.

Six of the last seven losing finalists have been eliminated prior to the quarter-finals the following year but Jo-Wilfried Tsonga [10.5] is eager to show that last year wasn’t a fluke. The last runner-up to make the final eight the following year was Marat Safin in 2005 and he went on to win it.

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Posted: January 26th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment