Bob Larson's Tennis News | <u>Wimbledon</u>: Men's Preview

· Nadal defeated Mardy Fish 63 76 63 in the first round and Werner Eschauer 62 64 61 in the second round. He was one of four men in the bottom half of the draw to advance to the third round without dropping a set, the others being Lleyton Hewitt, Nicolas Kiefer and Gael Monfils.

· Nadal is playing at Wimbledon for the fourth time and has advanced to the third round for the third time. On his Grand Slam debut as a 17-year-old here in 2003, Nadal became the youngest player to reach the third round since 16-year-old Boris Becker in 1984, losing at this stage to Paradorn Srichaphan 64 64 62. He missed the 2004 event with a stress fracture in his left ankle, before being a surprise finalist here last year.

· Nadal lost in the 2006 Wimbledon final to Roger Federer 60 76 67 63. It was the first time in the Open Era that the Roland Garros and Wimbledon finals had featured the same two men in the same season, and the first time since 1952 that it had happened.

· Nadal was the second Spanish man in history to reach the final here, after Manolo Santana won the title in 1966. He also recorded the best performance by a reigning Roland Garros champion at Wimbledon since Andre Agassi advanced to the final here in 1999.

· Having just won Roland Garros for the third time, Nadal now has another chance to become the third man in the Open Era, after Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg, to win both the Roland Garros and Wimbledon titles the same year. Borg achieved the feat for three years in succession 1978-80, while Laver also did it in 1962, one of eight men to achieve this in the pre-Open Era. [For the full list of men to achieve this rare double, see page 4 of the Preview.]

· Nadal won his third consecutive Roland Garros title by defeating top seed Roger Federer in the final for the second year running. His 63 46 63 64 victory again ended the Swiss’s player hopes of completing a career Grand Slam. Nadal became the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to collect a third successive Roland Garros title, and just the second man for 93 years to do so.

· Nadal’s Roland Garros triumph marked his fifth title this season. He also won at AMS Indian Wells (d. Novak Djokovic 62 75), AMS Monte Carlo (d. Roger Federer 64 64), Barcelona (d. Guillermo Canas 63 64), and AMS Rome (d. Fernando Gonzalez 62 62). He leads the tour for titles won so far in 2007.

· Nadal warmed up for Wimbledon by reaching the quarterfinals at Queen’s for the second successive year. He lost in the last eight to eventual runner-up Nicolas Mahut 75 76.

· Nadal was one of 15 lefthanders starting in the 2007 Wimbledon men’s draw, and is one of three remaining in the bottom half of the draw, along with No. 18 seed Jarkko Nieminen and qualifier Wayne Arthurs, who also play their third round matches today. Nadal and Nieminen will meet in the round of 16 if both win their matches today. (Fernando Verdasco, the only lefthander remaining in the top half of the draw, was playing his third round match against Andy Roddick at the time of writing.)

· Nadal played Wimbledon once as a junior, reaching the semifinals of the boys’ event in 2002 before losing to Lamine Ouahab (ALG) 63 75. That was the only tournament he played on the ITF Junior Circuit.

· Soderling recorded his first win at Wimbledon for four years in the first round, defeating Olivier Rochus 63 62 62. He followed that by defeating two-time semifinalist Sebastien Grosjean 63 36 63 62 in the second round.

· This is Soderling’s fifth appearance at Wimbledon and he has equalled his best performance at this event. He reached the third round on his debut as a qualifier in 2003, losing at this stage to Tim Henman 63 61 64. Soderling lost in the first round on his next three appearances here, including last year, when he fell again to Henman 67 63 62 16 63.

· Soderling is bidding to reach his Grand Slam round of 16 today. His best performance at any major is a third round finish - as well as reaching the third round here in 2003 (see above), he reached the third round at the 2005 US Open before losing to Guillermo Coria 62 67 61 64.

· Against Top Ten opponents, Soderling has a 6-18 career record, and a 1-3 Grand Slam record. His only victory against a Top Ten player at a major came on his first Grand Slam meeting with one, at the 2004 Australian Open, when he upset No. 6-ranked Rainer Schuettler, the previous year’s runner-up, 46 46 75 63 64 in the first round.

· Playing Spaniards, Soderling has a 11-10 career record, and is 2-2 against the nation in Grand Slam play. Today marks his first meeting with a Spaniard at Wimbledon.

· Soderling warmed up for 2007 Wimbledon by playing the grass court event at Halle. He defeated Stefan Koubek 57 63 75 in the first round but fell to eventual runner-up Marcos Baghdatis 67 64 63 in the second round.

· Soderling’s career grass court highlights are semifinal finishes at 2004 and 2006 Nottingham.

· Soderling’s first round victory over Rochus here was his first Grand Slam win of 2007. As No. 23 seed, he lost in the first round of the Australian Open to Florian Mayer 36 64 36 64 60 and again in the first round at Roland Garros, where he retired with a stiff neck while trailing Albert Montanes 76 41.

· Soderling’s best results this year have been semifinal finishes at Doha (l. Ivan Ljubicic 36 64 76), Marseille (l. Gilles Simon 62 76), and Dubai (l. Mikhail Youzhny 75 62). He also won three matches in a row at AMS Monte Carlo to reach the quarterfinals (l. Tomas Berdych 57 63 60).

· Soderling has also won all of his three Davis Cup matches this year, helping Sweden to reach the World Group semifinals for the first time in six years. In Sweden’s World Group first round tie against Belarus, Soderling defeated Vladimir Voltchkov in the opening singles rubber, and followed this up with a five-set defeat over Max Mirnyi in the decisive fourth rubber, having saved two match points. In the quarterfinals, Soderling overcame Argentina’s Juan-Martin Del Potro 76 76 64 in the second rubber. Sweden hosts USA in Gothenburg in September’s semifinals.

Head-to-head: first meeting

· Djokovic defeated Potito Starace 60 63 64 in the first round and Amer Delic 63 36 63 76 in the second round and is today bidding to reach the round of 16 at Wimbledon for the second year running.

· Djokovic is playing in his third Wimbledon. On his debut in 2005, as a qualifier, he reached the third round before losing to No. 9 seed Sebastien Grosjean 75 64 57 64 and then in 2006 advanced to the round of 16, losing to No. 7 seed Mario Ancic 64 46 46 75 63.

· Djokovic has advanced to the round of 16 at all of the Grand Slams, except for the US Open. He posted his career-best Grand Slam result at this year’s Roland Garros, advancing to the semifinals where he was defeated by eventual champion Rafael Nadal 75 64 62. (He also fell to the eventual champion at the Australian Open, losing to Roger Federer 62 75 63 in the round of 16.)

· Djokovic was one of two Serbians to start in the draw at 2007 Wimbledon, the other being Janko Tipsarevic, who defeated Fernando Gonzalez in his third round match on Friday to advance to the round of 16. This is just the second time that two Serbian men have appeared in the third round at Wimbledon and it was Djokovic and Tipsarevic who did so the first time, both advancing to this stage at 2005 Wimbledon.

· If Djokovic wins his third round match today and joins Tipsarevic in the round of 16, it will mark the first time that two Serbian men have reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon in the Open Era.

· Djokovic warmed up for Wimbledon by reaching the round of 16 at Queen’s. As No. 4 seed, he defeated Robert Kendrick 36 63 62, before falling to Arnaud Clement 26 63 64.

· Djokovic has won three tour titles in 2007: Adelaide, AMS Miami and Estoril taking his career total to five titles. He also got to the final at AMS Indian Wells in March, losing to Rafael Nadal 62 75. Through his second round victory here, he has now accumulated a 43-10 win-loss record so far for 2007.

· Kiefer is the fifth different German that Djokovic has faced in his tour-level career and he has won all of his matches against Germans so far.

· Kiefer won his first match for nearly 13 months when he upset No. 30 seed Filippo Volandri 63 76 61 in the first round and followed this up with a 64 63 64 victory over Fabrice Santoro.

· Kiefer missed more than a year of the circuit, from 2006 Roland Garros to 2007 Halle, with a left wrist injury. As No. 13 seed at 2006 Roland Garros, he injured his wrist in his second round defeat of Santoro’s countryman Marc Gicquel, retiring with the problem in the third round when trailing Tomas Berdych 61. Kiefer subsequently underwent surgery on the wrist on 17 July and made his comeback as a wild card this year at Halle, losing in the first round again to Berdych 64 76.

· Kiefer plays here unranked, having earned no points in the last 13 months (he did not received any for his first round loss at 2007 Halle because he played as a wild card). He plays 2007 Wimbledon on a protected ranking of No. 17.

· This is Kiefer’s tenth Wimbledon appearance. Until missing last year with his wrist injury, he had played every year since making his debut in 1997. On his last appearance here, in 2005, Kiefer reached the third round as No. 25 seed, losing to eventual champion Roger Federer 62 67 61 75. He was the only player to take a set off Federer that year.

· Kiefer has never bettered the result he achieved on his Wimbledon debut in 1997, when he advanced to the quarterfinals in just his third Grand Slam event. Kiefer defeated Yevgeny Kafelnikov 62 75 26 61 in the round of 16 before losing to Todd Woodbridge 76 26 60 64.

· Kiefer had his best Grand Slam result four months before his injury, when he advanced to the semifinals at the 2006 Australian Open, defeating Sebastien Grosjean 63 06 64 67 86 in the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion Roger Federer 63 57 60 62.

· Following his appearance in last year’s Australian Open semifinals, Kiefer went as high as No. 11 in the rankings on 24 April 2006. This was his highest position for nearly six years, since he reached No. 8 on 29 May 2000. Kiefer peaked at a career-high ranking of No. 4 on 10 January 2000.

· Kiefer was one of 13 men starting in the draw to have won at least one grass court title, collecting his at 1999 Halle (d. Nicklas Kulti 63 62 in the final). Kiefer has had the majority of his best grass court results at his home event, going on to be runner-up at Halle in 2002 and 2003.

· Kiefer is the fourth oldest man left in the draw and celebrates his 30^th birthday in the second week of Wimbledon on 5 July. The eldest three are Wayne Arthurs (36), Jonas Bjorkman (35) and Hyung-Taik Lee (31) who all play their third round matches today.

· Kiefer was runner-up at the 1995 Wimbledon junior tournament, losing to Olivier Mutis 62 62 in the final.

Head-to-head: Mathieu leads 1-0

· Roddick defeated fellow American Justin Gimelstob 61 75 76 in the first round, Danai Udomchoke 63 64 76 in the second round and leftie Fernando Verdasco 63 64 76 in the third round to extend his winning streak to eight matches.

· Roddick is one of four players in the top half of the draw, along with Roger Federer, Richard Gasquet and wild card Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, to reach this stage without dropping a set.

· Roddick is making his seventh successive appearance at Wimbledon, and has reached the round of 16 for the fourth time. He is bidding to reach the quarterfinals here for the fourth time, having yet to lose in the Wimbledon round of 16.

· Roddick has always reached at least the third round here. Last year, when he was also seeded No. 3, he was upset in the third round by Andy Murray 76 64 64.

· Roddick is the only American man to reach the round of 16 at this year’s Wimbledon. He was one of just two Americans to reach the third round here, and No. 9 seed James Blake lost his third round match to No. 20 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero. This is not the worst showing by American men in the round of 16 here – there have in fact been two years in the Open Era when no US men got this far: last year, and in 2002. The USA started with 14 men in the draw, the joint second-highest representation (with Spain) by a nation after France (15 players).

· Roddick plays a Frenchman today and is guaranteed to play another if he reaches the quarterfinals - either No. 12 Richard Gasquet or wild card Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Roddick has a 6-1 record versus Frenchmen in Grand Slams, having not lost to a player from the nation at majors since 2004 Roland Garros, when in his first Grand Slam meeting with a Frenchman, he lost to Olivier Mutis 36 63 67 63 62 in the second round. Roddick has a 37-9 career record against Frenchmen.

· Roddick has twice been Wimbledon runner-up, both times losing to Roger Federer. He fell 46 75 76 64 in the 2004 final and 62 76 64 in the 2005 final. He has been defeated by the eventual champion on four of his six previous Wimbledon appearances, losing to Federer 76 63 63 in the 2003 semifinals, and to Goran Ivanisevic 76 75 36 63 in the 2001 third round on his Wimbledon debut.

· Roddick was one of eight Grand Slam champions to start in the men’s singles draw, and is one of five still alive in the tournament, along with No. 1 seed Roger Federer and No. 20 Juan Carlos Ferrero, who are also through to the round of 16, and No. 2 Rafael Nadal and No. 16 Lleyton Hewitt, whose third round matches were delayed on Saturday,

· Roddick won his lone Grand Slam title at the 2003 US Open, defeating Juan Carlos Ferrero 63 76 63. He returned to the US Open final last year, losing to Roger Federer 62 46 75 61, taking his total number of appearances in Grand Slam finals to four.

· For the fourth time in five years, Roddick started Wimbledon having won at Queen’s. He collected the trophy there three straight years 2003-05, and after a semifinal loss to countryman James Blake in 2006, bounced back to win the title this year, saving a match point to defeat Nicolas Mahut 46 76 76 in the final.

· Queen’s was Roddick’s 22^nd career title, and first tournament victory of 2007. He also reached the final this season at Memphis (l. Tommy Haas 63 62) and the semifinals at the Australian Open (l. Roger Federer 64 60 62), San Jose (l. Andy Murray 76 64) and AMS Indian Wells (l. Rafael Nadal 64 63). Another highlight of Roddick’s season is compiling a 3-0 singles record to help the USA reach the Davis Cup semifinals (they play Sweden in Gothenburg in September).

· For the past five years, a player who has won one of the pre-Wimbledon grass court titles has gone on to win Wimbledon the same year. Federer won both Halle and Wimbledon 2003-06; prior to that, in 2002, Lleyton Hewitt won Queen’s before becoming Wimbledon champion. This year, Federer has not played a grass court warm-up event ahead of 2007 Wimbledon.

· Roddick’s four career grass court titles put him in third place among active players for titles won on the surface. Only three active men have won more than two grass court titles.

Player	Wimbledon	Other titles	Total grass
Roger Federer	4	4	8
Lleyton Hewitt	1	5	6
Andy Roddick	0	4	4

· Roddick is coached by 1974 and 1982 Wimbledon champion Jimmy Connors, who made his last appearance in the Wimbledon round of 16 in 1988, as No. 5 seed losing at this stage to Patrik Kuhnen 57 76 76 67 63.

· Mathieu defeated Radek Stepanek 76 62 62 in the first round, upset No. 17 seed David Ferrer 63 64 63 in the second round and then No. 15 seed Ivan Ljubicic 46 75 62 63 in the third round.

· Mathieu is making his fifth appearance at Wimbledon. Last year as No. 32 seed, he lost in the first round to 2003 runner-up Mark Philippoussis 57 76 63 76.

· Mathieu has equalled his best performance at any Grand Slam, having established a new best performance at Wimbledon just by reaching the third round. Mathieu’s previous best result here was reaching the second round on his debut in 2002, when he defeated Francisco Clavet in the first round before losing to David Nalbandian 76 76 63. In the intervening period, Mathieu had three straight first round losses at Wimbledon: in 2003, 2005 and 2006. (He missed the 2004 tournament with a wrist injury.)

· Mathieu has made two previous appearances in a Grand Slam round of 16. He advanced to the last 16 as a wild card at 2002 Roland Garros, losing to Andre Agassi 46 36 63 63 63, and at the 2006 Australian Open, losing to countryman Sebastien Grosjean 75 62 62.

· Mathieu is one of a record three Frenchmen already through to the round of 16 here, along with No. 12 seed Richard Gasquet and wild card Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who play each other in the round of 16. They could be joined by a fourth Frenchman, Gael Monfils, if he wins his delayed third round match against No. 6 seed Nikolay Davydenko. Previously, the highest number of Frenchmen to reach the Wimbledon round of 16 in the Open Era was two, which has occurred seven times.

· With Gasquet and Tsonga playing each other in the round of 16, there is guaranteed to be one French men’s quarterfinalist at 2007 Wimbledon. If Mathieu wins today and makes it two French quarterfinalists, France will have its joint-best showing in the Wimbledon quarterfinals in the Open Era, having previously had two men through to the last eight here in 1991 (Guy Forget and Thierry Champion). If Monfils wins his delayed third round match against Davydenko, there is a chance for there to be a record three Frenchmen in the last eight.

· Mathieu played the grass court events at Queen’s and Nottingham ahead of 2007 Wimbledon. He won two matches at Queen’s to reach the round of 16 (l. Dmitry Tursunov 67 63 63) and two matches at Nottingham to reach the quarterfinals (l. Jonas Bjorkman 62 63 64).

· By reaching the round of 16 here, Mathieu has won three successive grass court matches at tour level for the first time in his career. Before the start of the 2007 grass court season, Mathieu had never won back-to-back grass court matches, in ten tour tournaments played on the surface through the end of 2006. He had in fact had seven first round losses in those ten events. Mathieu has played all his career grass court matches at tour level.

· Mathieu won his third career title, and first title since 2002, at Casablanca in April this year. He defeated Marc Gicquel 63 75 in the semifinals and Albert Montanes 61 61 in the final. Mathieu’s other highlight this season was reaching the semifinals in Estoril the week after Casablanca, where he retired in the first set with a hip injury while trailing Richard Gasquet 3-1.

· At this year’s Australian Open, Mathieu was poised to win his first round match against Fernando Verdasco in straight sets when he rolled his right ankle and was forced to retire. He was leading 76 64 66 and 3-0 up in the tiebreak at the time. Mathieu missed the next month of the 2007 season recovering from the injury, returning at Las Vegas at the end of February.

· Mathieu was the French No. 3 in the w/c 25 June rankings, behind No. 1 Gasquet and No. 2 Clement.

Head-to-head: Davydenko leads 1-0

· Davydenko has reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon for the first time, and has now appeared in the round of 16 at all four majors. He defeated fellow Russian Evgeny Korolev 76 64 76 in the first round, Chris Guccione 36 57 76 64 62 in the second, and Gael Monfils 63 75 63 in the third.

· This is Davydenko’s sixth appearance at Wimbledon. Prior to this year, Davydenko had won just one match here, that being in 2005, when he defeated Scott Draper 76 64 63 in the first round, before losing in the second round to Jonas Bjorkman 76 21 ret. (wrist injury). Last year, he lost to qualifier Alejandro Falla 26 76 76 63 in the first round.

· Davydenko is bidding to reach his fourth consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal, and his eighth in total. He has never lost in the round of 16 at a Grand Slam.

· If Davydenko defeats Baghdatis today, he will complete a set of Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances. He has made quarterfinal appearances at each of the other three majors: for the past three years at both the Australian Open and Roland Garros, and at the US Open last year.

· Davydenko’s best Grand Slam results are three semifinal finishes, achieved at Roland Garros in 2005 (l. Mariano Puerta 63 57 26 64 64) and in 2007 (l. Roger Federer 75 76 76), and the 2006 US Open (l. Roger Federer 61 75 64).

· Davydenko is joined in the round of 16 by countryman and No. 14 seed Mikhail Youzhny. This marks just the third time in the Open Era that two Russians have advanced to the round of 16 at Wimbledon, after 2001 (Youzhny and Marat Safin) and 2005 (Youzhny and Dmitry Tursunov).

· It is six years since a Russian reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals, Marat Safin doing so in 2001. There have never been two Russians in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

· Before Davydenko’s victories in the first three rounds here, he had won just two tour-level grass matches in his career, from 14 such matches played. Following his first round victory here in 2005 (see above), his second tour-level grass court win was at Halle just over two weeks ago, when as No. 2 seed he defeated Jurgen Melzer 76 46 62 in the first round, losing in the second round to Florian Mayer 64 64.

· Although Davydenko has yet to win a title in 2007 (he won five last year), he has had some good results on surfaces other than grass this season. He was a semifinalist at Roland Garros for the second time, losing to Roger Federer 75 76 76, and reached the quarterfinals at the 2007 Australian Open, losing to Tommy Haas 63 26 16 61 75. Away from the Slams, Davydenko’s highlights are semifinal finishes at Doha, Rotterdam and AMS Rome, and quarterfinal finishes at Barcelona and Portschach.

· Baghdatis defeated Ernests Gulbis 36 64 63 62 in the first round, Nicolas Devilder 60 76 67 62 in the second and No. 23 seed David Nalbandian 62 75 60 in the third.

· Baghdatis is making his third consecutive Wimbledon appearance. He had his best result here last year, reaching the semifinals by defeating Andy Murray 63 64 76 in the last 16 and Lleyton Hewitt 61 57 76 62 in the quarterfinals, before losing to Rafael Nadal 61 75 63. He lost to Mikhail Youzhny 62 36 61 64 in the first round on his debut in 2005.

· 2006 was an outstanding year for Baghdatis. Before reaching the Wimbledon semifinals, he advanced to his first Grand Slam final at the 2006 Australian Open, as world No. 54 recording three consecutive wins over Top Ten players – No. 3 Andy Roddick in the round of 16, No. 8 Ivan Ljubicic in the quarterfinals and No. 4 David Nalbandian in the semifinals – before falling in the final to No. 1 Roger Federer 57 75 60 62.

· This is Baghdatis’s 12^th Grand Slam event and he is bidding to reach his third quarterfinal at a major. He has a 2-2 win-loss record in round of 16 matches at Grand Slam events before this one, winning his matches at this stage at last year’s Australian Open and Wimbledon, but falling in the last 16 at the 2005 Australian Open and at this year’s Roland Garros.

· Baghdatis is facing a Russian opponent for the seventh time in his career. He has a 1-5 win-loss record against players from the nation in previous meetings. His sole victory came against a Russian player came at Marseille this year, where he defeated Mikhail Youzhny 26 76 75 in the quarterfinals. This is his third meeting with a Russian in a Grand Slam and has lost his previous two.

· Going into today’s match, Baghdatis has a 8-10 career win-loss record against Top 10 players.

· As a result of his performances at last year’s Australian Open and Wimbledon and of winning his first career title at 2006 Beijing, Baghdatis saw his ranking jump up 44 places throughout the year to end the season at No. 12.

· In 2007, Baghdatis has picked up where he left off in 2006, although his Grand Slam results have been less impressive so far. He won his second career title at Zagreb on indoor carpet (d. Ivan Ljubicic 76 46 64 in the final), and reached finals at Marseille on indoor hard in February (l. Gilles Simon 64 76), and at Halle on grass in June (l. Tomas Berdych 75 64). His best Grand Slam result to date this season was a round of 16 appearance at Roland Garros (l. Igor Andreev 26 61 63 64).

· 2007 Halle marked Baghdatis’s first career grass court final. That was the only tournament he played on this surface ahead of 2007 Wimbledon, as he then withdrew from ’s-Hertogenbosch with a foot injury.

· Baghdatis was ITF Junior World Champion in 2003, winning the boys’ singles at the Australian Open and finishing runner-up in that event at the US Open that year. He fared less well at Wimbledon during his junior career, losing in the boys’ singles second round on both of his appearances here, in 2001-02.

Head-to-head: Berdych leads 1-0
2004 US Open Hard (O) R128 Berdych 63 26 62 16 63

This is only the second time that Berdych and Bjorkman have come up against each other; Berdych won their first encounter in five sets in the first round at the 2004 US Open.

· Berdych is bidding to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal. He defeated Nicolas Massu 76 64 62 in the first round, Michael Llodra 76 76 36 76 in the second round, and Hyung-Taik Lee 64 76 76 in the third round.

· Berdych is making his fourth consecutive appearance at Wimbledon. Since his debut in 2004 when he lost in the first round, Berdych has improved on his performance every year. In 2005 he reached the third round, losing to Taylor Dent 63 76 63; and last year as No. 13 seed he won through to the round of 16, losing to Roger Federer 63 63 64.

· In reaching the round of 16 at Wimbledon this year, Berdych has equalled his best performance at any Grand Slam. He has reached the round of 16 at all of the majors, but has lost at that stage on all five previous occasions.

· Berdych is bidding to become the sixth Czech man to reach the last eight at Wimbledon in the Open Era. The previous five were Radek Stepanek, Petr Korda, Ivan Lendl, Tomas Smid and Jan Kodes.

· This is Berdych’s highest-ever Grand Slam seeding; his previous best was No. 10 at 2007 Roland Garros.

· In Grand Slam play this year, Berdych reached the round of 16 at the Australian Open as No. 13 seed, losing to Nikolay Davydenko 57 64 61 76, but lost in the first round of Roland Garros as No. 10 seed to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 75 64 64.

· Berdych is currently on a seven-match unbeaten streak having won the title at Halle last month, the first grass court title of his career. Seeded No. 4, he received a walkover from Mikhail Youzhny in the quarterfinals, defeated Jarkko Nieminen 76 64 in the semifinals and Marcos Baghdatis 75 64 in the final.

· Halle was Berdych’s third career singles title. Previously he won at AMS Paris in 2005 (d. Ivan Ljubicic 64 36 46 64) and Palermo in 2004 (d. Filippo Volandri 63 63).

· Berdych has won 17 grass court matches out of 23 contested in his career. As well as his success at Halle this year (see above), he was also runner-up at Halle last year as No. 5 seed, losing to Roger Federer 60 67 62.

· Berdych had a successful clay court season this year posting a 14-6 win-loss record. He reached the semifinals at AMS Monte Carlo (l. Rafael Nadal 60 75) and Munich (l. Mikhail Youzhny 64 63), and won three matches at May’s World Team Cup to help Czech Republic reach the final. He also advanced to the quarterfinals at AMS Rome before losing to Filippo Volandri 62 63.

· 2006 semifinalist Bjorkman is contesting his second successive Grand Slam round of 16 having defeated three qualifiers at 2007 Wimbledon. He overcame Fernando Vicente 63 61 62 in the first round, Yeu-Tzuoo Wang 60 63 67 64 in the second round, and Wayne Arthurs 62 61 64 in the third round. This is the fifth time Bjorkman has reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon.

· Bjorkman has faced three qualifiers in a row for the first time in his career at this years Wimbledon. He had faced two in a row at Wimbledon before, defeating David Di Lucia and Stefano Pescosolido in the first two rounds here in 1998.

· Bjorkman aged 35 years and 107 days (age as at end of tournament) is the oldest man left in the tournament this year, having been the second-oldest man to start in the draw. His third round opponent Wayne Arthurs was the oldest in the tournament.

· Bjorkman is the oldest man since Jimmy Connors in 1988 to reach the round of 16. Bjorkman would become the oldest man to reach the quarterfinals since Tom Okker in 1979, and the fifth oldest in the Open Era.

· Bjorkman is bidding to advance to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon for the third time, having a 2-2 win-loss record in his round of 16 matches here to date.

· Bjorkman is making his 14^th consecutive Wimbledon appearance. Along with Tim Henman, Bjorkman has made more appearances than any other player who started the men’s draw. Overall, this is Bjorkman’s 55^th Slam and only Fabrice Santoro among active players, who played his 60^th major here, has contested more.

· Last year, Bjorkman produced his best Wimbledon result when advancing to the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Roger Federer 62 60 62.

· At last year’s Wimbledon, Bjorkman also equalled his career-best Grand Slam result. He also reached the semifinals at the 1997 US Open before losing to Greg Rusedski 61 36 36 63 75. Of those players to reach two or more Grand Slam semifinals in the Open Era, only Wayne Ferreira has a longer gap between his first and second semifinal appearances.

· Bjorkman played two grass court events before arriving at 2007 Wimbledon. He lost in the second round at Queen’s to eventual finalist Nicolas Mahut 63 67 63 and then advanced to the semifinals at Nottingham last week, falling to Arnaud Clement 62 64.

· Reaching the semifinals at Nottingham was Bjorkman’s best result of the year. He also reached the last 16 at Roland Garros before losing to Carlos Moya 76 62 75, having gone into Roland Garros on a seven-match losing streak (excluding victory in a dead Davis Cup rubber).

· Bjorkman was one of five men to reach the round of 16 in this year’s men’s singles who have won more than one grass court title, having won at Nottingham in both 1998 and 2002. The others are Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt and Richard Gasquet.

· Bjorkman has a career grass court win-loss record of 80-40 through the third round here. He has the third best record on the surface of players in the draw, behind Tim Henman (83-34) and Lleyton Hewitt (81-18).

Head-to-head: first meeting

This is the Gasquet’s and Tsonga’s first tour meeting. Although they are both French and very close in age, they have never played each other as professionals. However, they did meet three times on the ITF Junior Circuit with Gasquet winning each time.

Gasquet takes on Tsonga in the fifth all French match-up at Wimbledon this year. The most all-French match-ups here in the Open Era previously was three, those being in 2004. France was the most represented nation in the 2007 men’s draw: 15 French players started here.

Only six Frenchmen have reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals or better in the Open Era: Henri Leconte (1985-87); Thierry Champion (1991); Guy Forget (1991, 1992 and 1994); Cedric Pioline (1993, 1995, 1997 and 1999); Nicolas Escude (2001) and Sebastien Grosjean (2003-05). Either Gasquet or Tsonga will join them, and so will Paul-Henri Mathieu if he wins his round of 16 match against Andy Roddick today. Another Frenchman, Gael Monfils, could also still reach the quarterfinals although he has yet to play his delayed third round match against Nikolay Davydenko.

Gasquet and Tsonga are two of three Frenchmen to reach the round of 16 so far here this year, along with Mathieu, which is a Wimbledon Open Era record. The previous most Frenchmen through to the round of 16 at Wimbledon was two, which has happened on seven previous occasions. With Gasquet and Tsonga playing each other, France is guaranteed one quarterfinalist at 2007 Wimbledon, and if Mathieu and countryman Monfils also advance, there will be three Frenchmen in the last eight, a new Open Era record for Wimbledon. France’s previous best showing in the quarterfinals here was two men, Guy Forget and Thierry Champion having both lost in the quarterfinals in 1991.

Tsonga is the third Frenchmen that Gasquet has played at 2007 Wimbledon. With his wins over Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the second and third rounds here, Gasquet has improved his Grand Slam record against countrymen to 5-0. He had never played a Frenchman at Wimbledon before this year. Gasquet has a 19-9 career record against Frenchmen.

Gasquet and Tsonga are two of four men in the top half of the draw to have reached the round of 16 without dropping a set. The others are Roger Federer and Andy Roddick.

· Gasquet defeated qualifier Bohdan Ulihrach 63 64 64 in the opening round, qualifier Nicolas Mahut 64 63 64 in the second round and qualifier Edouard Roger-Vasselin 63 64 62 in the third round. This was the first time that Gasquet had faced three qualifiers in a row at any tournament.

· Gasquet is making his fourth consecutive appearance at Wimbledon. Last year, he lost in the first round to eventual champion Roger Federer 63 62 62.

· Gasquet is bidding to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal. He previously reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon in 2005, losing to David Nalbandian 64 76 60. He also reached the round of 16 at the 2005 and 2006 US Open, and the 2007 Australian Open.

· Gasquet has played two previous matches against wild cards at Grand Slam events and has a 2-0 record. He defeated Phillip Simmonds 61 63 61 in the first round at the 2006 US Open and Nicolas Mahut 63 62 62 in the first round at 2007 Roland Garros.

· Gasquet played the grass court warm-up events this year at Halle and Nottingham. He lost in the first round at Halle to Aisam Qureshi 76 64, and reached the quarterfinals at Nottingham. At Nottingham, Gasquet was bidding to create tournament history by winning the title for three consecutive years, but persistent rain forced his quarterfinal match against Arnaud Clement to be moved to indoor hard court - he lost 64 63.

· Gasquet’s best result on any surface to date this year was finishing runner-up at Estoril on clay, falling to Novak Djokovic 76 06 61. He was also a semifinalist at Sydney and a quarterfinalist at Adelaide, Marseille and AMS Monte Carlo.

· Gasquet began the Grand Slam year with a round of 16 finish at the Australian Open, defeating compatriot Gael Monfils 60 46 75 63 in the third round before losing to Tommy Robredo 64 62 36 64.

· Gasquet received his highest Wimbledon seeding this year at No. 12. He has only been seeded once before at Wimbledon, in 2005, when as No. 27 seed he lost to David Nalbandian in the round of 16 (see above). Gasquet’s highest-ever Grand Slam seeding was No. 11 at 2007 Roland Garros.

· Having won twice at Nottingham, Gasquet was one of six players starting in the draw to have won more than one grass court title. The others were Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick, Jonas Bjorkman and Thomas Johansson. [For more details see page 4 of the Preview.]

· Gasquet has won four titles in his career. As well as winning at Nottingham in 2005 and 2006, he was victorious on clay at Gstaad in 2006 and on indoor carpet at Lyon in the same year.

· Tsonga has reached the round of 16 on his Wimbledon debut. He defeated countryman Julien Benneteau 76 75 64 in the first round, Nicolas Lapentti 64 62 63 in the second round and Feliciano Lopez 63 76 63 in the third round.

· Tsonga’s three victories here are his first at a major. He lost in the first round to Andy Roddick at both 2005 Roland Garros (63 62 64) and the 2007 Australian Open (67 76 63 63). The first-set tiebreak that Tsonga and Roddick played at this year’s Australian Open stretched to 20-18, setting a new record for the longest-known tie break at the Australian Open and equalling the record for the longest-known tiebreak at any tournament.

· Tsonga is playing only his third Grand Slam event and has always played as a wild card.

· Tsonga was the only wild card to survive the first round here this year. He is the sixth different man to have reached the last 16 at Wimbledon as a wild card after Pat Cash (1986 and 1990), Mark Woodforde (1990), Andrew Foster (1993), Goran Ivanisevic (2001) and Mark Philippoussis (2002).

· Tsonga is now bidding to become just the third wild card to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. The two men to have done this so far are Pat Cash in 1986 and Goran Ivanisevic in 2001, Ivanisevic going on to win the title. (Wild cards were introduced to Wimbledon in 1997.)

· Tsonga is looking to become the first debutant to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals since Florian Mayer in 2004, Mayer losing in the quarterfinals to Lleyton Hewitt 64 62 46 76.

· Tsonga attempted to qualify for 2003 and 2004 Roland Garros and the 2004 US Open, but fell in the second qualifying round each time.

· Tsonga has won three matches at tour level for the first time. He won two successive tour-level matches for the first time at Queen’s last month as a qualifier, defeating Kristian Pless and defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in the first two rounds before falling to Marin Cilic 46 63 62.

· Prior to Queen’s, Tsonga won the Surbiton Challenger on grass, defeating Ivo Karlovic 63 76 in the final. This was Tsonga’s eighth challenger title and his second such title on grass, having won the Nottingham challenger in 2004.

· From the Surbiton Challenger through the third round here, Tsonga has won 13 of his 14 matches on grass this year (including qualifying at Queen’s).

· Tsonga reached the semifinals of the boys’ singles at 2003 Wimbledon (l. eventual champion Florin Mergea 64 67 64). He finished No. 2 on the ITF Junior World rankings behind Marcos Baghdatis in 2003, having won the US Open boys’ singles title that year.

· Since moving to the men’s tour, Tsonga has suffered several injuries. He didn’t play between November 2004 and March 2005 due to a herniated disc. He then contested just three tournaments between July 2005 and February 2006, retiring in one and conceding a walkover in another, due to shoulder, back and abdominal injuries. As a result of this inactivity, his ranking dropped from No. 133 on 23 May 2005 to No. 404 on 3 April 2006. Since then his ranking has risen to a career-high of No. 110.

· As a result of reaching the round of 16 here, Tsonga is projected to break into the Top 100 when the new rankings are published on 9 July 2007.

· Since returning to the circuit in February 2006, Tsonga has won five Challenger titles and four Futures titles.

Head-to-head: Federer leads 8-3

2005 Dubai Hard (O) R16 Federer 46 63 76

Federer has won his last six match-ups with Ferrero and their only previous meeting on grass at 2005 Wimbledon. This is Federer’s second meeting with a fellow Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1 at this year’s Wimbledon, having defeated Marat Safin in the third round. 2003 Roland Garros champion Ferrero held the No. 1 spot for eight weeks in September and October 2003, while Federer, the winner of 10 Grand Slam titles to date, is in his 179^th week at the top of the rankings.

· Federer began the fourth defence of his Wimbledon title with a 63 62 64 victory over Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili in the first round. He then defeated Juan-Martin Del Potro 62 75 61 in the second round, and No. 26 seed Marat Safin 61 64 76 in the third round. He advanced to the quarterfinals when his opponent Tommy Haas withdrew from their round of 16 match with a torn stomach muscle. As a result of receiving a walkover in the round of 16, Federer has not played since last Friday.

· Federer has advanced to the quarterfinals without dropping a set. This is the fifth straight Grand Slam event at which Federer has advanced to the quarterfinals without dropping a set, and the third time that he has done so at Wimbledon, having done so in 2004 and 2006.

· At last year’s Wimbledon, Federer advanced to a Grand Slam final without dropping a set for the first time. At the 2007 Australian Open, Federer became the first man to win a Grand Slam title without dropping a set since Bjorn Borg at 1980 Roland Garros.

· Federer is bidding to reach the semifinals for the 13^th successive Grand Slam event. Federer set a new all-time record for this at the 2007 Australian Open by surpassing Rod Laver’s run of 10 straight Grand Slam semifinal appearances from 1960 Wimbledon through 1962 Roland Garros, and Ivan Lendl’s streak of ten major semifinals from the 1985 US Open through the 1988 Australian Open.

· The last time that Federer failed to reach the semifinals in a major was at 2004 Roland Garros where he lost in the third round to Gustavo Kuerten.

· The last defending champion to lose in the Wimbledon quarterfinals was Pete Sampras on his third defence in 1996, when he was also the last top seed to lose at this stage. [For more details, see pages 6-7 and 10-11 of the Preview.]

· Federer’s last defeat to a Spaniard other than Rafael Nadal was at 2004 AMS Rome, where he lost to Albert Costa in the second round. Since that defeat, Federer is 31-7 against Spanish opponents, all seven losses being to Nadal.

· This is Federer’s ninth appearance at Wimbledon, having played here every year since making his debut as a wild card in 1999.

· Federer is bidding to become the fourth player in Wimbledon history to win the men’s singles title for five successive years. He won the 2003 title as No. 4 seed, defeating Mark Philippoussis 76 62 76 in the final. As No. 1 seed, he defended his title for the last three years: in 2004 defeating Andy Roddick 46 75 76 64 in the final; in 2005 again defeating Roddick 62 76 64; and in 2006 defeating Rafael Nadal 60 76 67 63.

· Only seven men in history have won five or more consecutive titles at one Grand Slam event, and Bjorn Borg is the only player to have achieved this feat in the Open Era. He achieved this at Wimbledon, winning the title for five successive years from 1976-80. [For more details see page 1 of the Preview.]

· Federer is one of eight men in history to win at least four Wimbledon titles in his career, whether consecutive or otherwise. He is now bidding to become just the fifth man in history to win five career Wimbledon titles. Borg and Sampras are the only men to win five here in the Open Era, Sampras going on to win seven titles. [For more details see page 2 of the Preview.]

· Federer has collected his ten Grand Slam titles in his last 16 Grand Slam tournaments. If he is able to go on and win his 11^th major title at 2007 Wimbledon, he would move into even more exclusive company on the Grand Slam title leaderboard. Four men have 11 or more Grand Slam titles to their names.

All-time Grand Slam title leaders

Rank	No. of titles	Player
1.	14	Pete Sampras
2.	12	Roy Emerson
3.	11	Bjorn Borg Rod Laver
5.	10	Bill Tilden Roger Federer

· Federer has now won a record 51 consecutive matches on grass court. He established a new Open Era record winning streak on the surface in the first round at last year’s Wimbledon, breaking Bjorn Borg’s previous mark of 41 straight grass court match wins. Federer’s last grass court defeat was in the first round of 2002 Wimbledon, when he lost to qualifier Mario Ancic 63 76 63. (Note: victories by walkover are not counted in a player’s match-winning streak, but the streak is still alive.)

· During his 51-match grass court winning streak, Federer has defeated 40 different players from 20 different countries through his third round defeat of Safin here, and lost 13 sets (dropping no more than one set per match). His pre-Wimbledon total of 48 matches was compiled through winning both Halle and Wimbledon 2003-06.

· Federer has now won 31 matches in a row at Wimbledon. During that run, he has dropped just five sets and has never been extended past four sets. (Note: victories by walkover are not counted in a player’s match-winning streak, but the streak is still alive.)

· Federer arrived at 2007 Wimbledon having not played a grass court tournament ahead of The Championships for the first time in his career. (He made his debut here in 1999.) He withdrew from his usual warm-up event, Halle, citing fatigue. The last man to win Wimbledon without playing a grass court tournament ahead of The Championships was Andre Agassi in 1992.

· Pete Sampras played a grass court warm-up event ahead of all seven of his Wimbledon triumphs. The only year in his entire career that he did not play a warm-up event, in 1996, Sampras failed to win the Wimbledon title, losing in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Richard Krajicek.

· In contrast to Sampras, Bjorn Borg did not play a warm-up event in any of the five years that he triumphed at Wimbledon. Borg did contest a warm-up event in 1974, losing in the first round at Nottingham, and went on to lose in the third round at Wimbledon that year.

· Federer’s eight career grass court titles put him in joint-third place on the list of grass court titles won in the Open Era.

Open Era grass court title leaders

No. of titles	Player
10	Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras
8	Roger Federer, John McEnroe
7	Boris Becker
6	Mark Edmondson, Lleyton Hewitt

· Although Federer has won three titles so far in 2007, at the Australian Open – where he became the first man to win a Grand Slam title without dropping a set since Bjorn Borg at 1980 Roland Garros – Dubai, and AMS Hamburg. However by his standards this season has been disappointing. In the spring he had a run of four straight tournament losses, his longest streak without winning a title since taking over the No. 1 ranking in February 2004. Federer fell in the second round at AMS Indian Wells to Guillermo Canas 75 62 (after a first round bye), and again to Canas, 76 26 76, in the round of 16 at AMS Miami. He reached the final at AMS Monte Carlo before losing to Rafael Nadal, and was upset by wild card Filippo Volandri 62 64 in the round of 16 at AMS Rome before returning to winning form at AMS Hamburg.

· Federer reached the Roland Garros final for the second year running, again falling to Rafael Nadal and so narrowly failing in his bid to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time, and complete a career Grand Slam.

· Federer won the boys’ singles at Wimbledon in 1998, defeating Irakli Labadze 64 64 in the final.

· Ferrero advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time in seven Wimbledon appearances when he defeated Janko Tipsarevic 75 63 76 in the round of 16. Previously, Ferrero defeated Jan Hajek 67 46 63 62 75 in the first round, qualifier Gilles Muller 64 64 67 76 in the second and then upset No. 9 seed James Blake 36 63 63 76 in the third.

· Ferrero’s previous best Wimbledon results were two round of 16 finishes. In 2003, as No. 3 seed, he lost at this stage to No. 13 seed Sebastien Grosjean 62 46 76 76, and in 2005 he fell to eventual champion Roger Federer 63 64 76. Last year, he lost in the third round to Radek Stepanek 57 67 64 62 119.

· Ferrero has now advanced to the quarterfinal stage at all four majors, becoming the seventh active player to do so alongside Roger Federer, Fernando Gonzalez, Lleyton Hewitt, Rafael Nadal, David Nalbandian and Marat Safin.

· Having already advanced to the semifinals at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and the US Open, Ferrero is looking to join Federer and David Nalbandian as the only active players to contest semifinals at all four majors by upsetting Federer today.

· Ferrero’s career highlight was winning the 2003 Roland Garros title, defeating Martin Verkerk 61 63 62 in the final. Roland Garros is the major at which Ferrero has enjoyed most success, having also finished runner-up there in 2002 and reached the semifinals in 2000-01. Ferrero was also runner-up at the 2003 US Open and a semifinalist at the 2004 Australian Open.

· Ferrero was one of 14 Spaniards to start in the draw here (the joint-second highest nation representation at 2007 Wimbledon behind France) and he is one of two Spaniards still alive in the competition at the time of writing, the other being Rafael Nadal.

· Ferrero is the fifth Spanish man to advance to the Wimbledon quarterfinals in the Open Era after Andres Gimeno in 1970, Manuel Orantes in 1972, Feliciano Lopez in 2005 and Rafael Nadal last year. Of these four men, Gimeno and Orantes went on to reach the semifinals while Nadal finished as runner-up.

· This is the third successive year that a Spanish player has reached the quarterfinals here. If Rafael Nadal joins Ferrero in the last eight here this year, it will be the first time in the Open Era that two Spanish players have reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.

· This is Ferrero’s tenth meeting with the No.1-ranked player and he has a 3-6 win-loss record in previous meetings. His last victory against the No. 1 player was at the 2003 US Open, where he defeated Andre Agassi in the semifinals.

· Ferrero has won 11 singles titles in his career, but none since 2003. He has eight clay court titles and three hard court titles but none on grass.

· Ferrero played just one match on grass before coming here, losing in the first round at ’s-Hertogenbosch to Carlos Berlocq 26 63 62.

· This is the first time in his career that Ferrero has won four consecutive matches on grass. In addition to his round of 16 appearances here, Ferrero also reached quarterfinals at 2005 Halle and 2006 ’s-Hertogenbosch, both of which were 32-draws.

· Ferrero’s best results of the year to date have been on clay. He reached the final at Costa do Sauipe in February (l. Guillermo Canas 76 62) and also won four matches to advance to the semifinals at AMS Monte Carlo (l. Roger Federer 63 64).

Third round bottom half matches (to finish)

Round of 16 matches

Head-to-head: Nadal leads 1-0

Head-to-head: first meeting

Head-to-head: Mathieu leads 1-0

Head-to-head: Davydenko leads 1-0

Head-to-head: Berdych leads 1-0
2004 US Open Hard (O) R128 Berdych 63 26 62 16 63

Head-to-head: first meeting

Head-to-head: Federer leads 8-3

2005 Dubai Hard (O) R16 Federer 46 63 76

All-time Grand Slam title leaders

Rank

No. of titles

Roger Federer

Open Era grass court title leaders

No. of titles

Third round bottom half matches (to finish)

Round of 16 matches

Head-to-head: Nadal leads 1-0

Head-to-head: first meeting

Head-to-head: Mathieu leads 1-0

Head-to-head: Davydenko leads 1-0

Head-to-head: Berdych leads 1-0 2004 US Open Hard (O) R128 Berdych 63 26 62 16 63

Head-to-head: first meeting

Head-to-head: Federer leads 8-3

2005 Dubai Hard (O) R16 Federer 46 63 76

All-time Grand Slam title leaders

Rank

No. of titles

Roger Federer

Open Era grass court title leaders

No. of titles

Head-to-head: Berdych leads 1-0
2004 US Open Hard (O) R128 Berdych 63 26 62 16 63