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

· This is the second youngest quartet of semifinalists (combined ages) in the Open Era at Wimbledon, with three of the four semifinalists aged 21 or under. The youngest group of semifinalists came in 1977, when Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Vitas Gerulaitis and John McEnroe reached the last four.

· Roger Federer, at 25 years, 334 days, is the oldest of the four semifinalists by more than four years. This is the first time in his 15 Grand Slam semifinal appearances that he has been the oldest of the four semifinalists. He is the youngest man to have been the oldest of the four semifinalists at Wimbledon since Stefan Edberg (25 years, 169 days) in 1991.

· For the second year running, world No. 1 Federer and world No. 2 Rafael Nadal are one victory away from meeting in the final of a second consecutive major, following their showdown at Roland Garros four weeks ago. Last year’s Wimbledon was the first time that there were the same finalists in back-to-back Grand Slam tournaments since Stefan Edberg and Jim Courier faced off at the 1991 US Open then the 1992 Australian Open. Last year was the first time that Roland Garros and Wimbledon had had the same two finalists in the Open Era.

· Federer and Nadal possess 13 Grand Slam titles between them, while Novak Djokovic and Richard Gasquet are both seeking their first Grand Slam final appearance.

Since losing to Gasquet in their first meeting just over two years ago, Federer has won his last five meetings with Gasquet. This is the pair’s third grass court meeting and their second at Wimbledon, Federer having defeated Gasquet in the first round here last year. Gasquet was ranked No. 50 at the time of their meeting here last year but now faces the world No. 1 at a career-high No. 11.

Federer and Gasquet were two of the six men in the men’s draw to possess multiple grass court titles. Federer with four titles at both Halle and Wimbledon heads the list with eight, while Gasquet boasts two Nottingham titles, winning there in 2005-06.

Gasquet’s defeat of Federer at AMS Monte Carlo in 2005 is Federer’s only defeat against a Frenchman since October 2002 (l. Fabrice Santoro, AMS Madrid quarterfinals). Since that last defeat, Federer is 31-1 in match-ups with Frenchmen.

7:18 Total Time On Court ^ 9:55

Road to the Semifinals ^ official time according to umpire’s scorecard

Federer	Time^		Time^	Gasquet
d. Teimuraz Gabashvili 63 62 64	1:33	1st Round	1:31	d.(Q) Bohdan Ulihrach 63 64 64
d. Juan Martin Del Potro 62 75 61	1:33	2nd Round	1:39	d.(Q) Nicolas Mahut 64 63 64
d. Marat Safin 61 64 76	1:39	3rd Round	1:29	d.(Q) Edouard Roger-Vasselin 63 64 62
d. Tommy Haas w/o	---	Round of 16	1:42	d.(WC) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 64 63 64
d. Juan Carlos Ferrero 76 36 61 63	2:33	Quarterfinals	3:34	d. No. 3 Andy Roddick 46 46 76 76 86

· Federer resumed his Wimbledon campaign on Thursday after a six-day break and completed his quarterfinal victory against Juan Carlos Ferrero on Friday. Before that match, Federer had not played since the first Friday of the Championships, having received a walkover in the round of 16 when his opponent Tommy Haas withdrew with a torn stomach muscle.

· Federer has advanced to the semifinals here for the loss of one set. 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 appearing in a record 13^th straight Grand Slam semifinal. He set the all-time 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.

· Federer has a 12-2 record in Grand Slam semifinals. His two losses at the semifinal stage were at the 2005 Australian Open (l. Marat Safin 57 64 57 76 97), and at 2005 Roland Garros, which marked the last time he failed to reach the final at a major (l. Rafael Nadal 63 46 64 63). Both Safin and Nadal defeated Federer on their birthdays – it is not Gasquet’s birthday today (he turned 21 on 18 June).

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

· Federer is today bidding to reach his ninth consecutive Grand Slam final. He set the all-time record for successive appearances in major finals at this year’s Roland Garros, breaking his tie with Jack Crawford, who reached seven successive Grand Slam finals in 1933-34.

· Federer is bidding to reach his 13th Grand Slam final overall, placing him in sixth position in the list of Grand Slam finals reached in the Open Era.

Grand Slam finals reached (Open Era)

· Federer is bidding to become the 22^nd defending champion to reach the Wimbledon men’s final in the Open Era. Of the 21 defending champions to reach the final here, 16 went on to win the title. (Note: three defending champions did not return to defend the title.) [For more details, see pages 6-7 of the Preview.]

· If he advances to the final, Federer will be the 23^rd top seed to reach the Wimbledon final in the Open Era. Of the 22 top seeds to reach the final previously, 17 have gone on to win the title. [For more details, see pages 10-11 of the Preview.]

· Federer has been at No. 1 in the rankings for 179 weeks, having been at the top every week since 2 February 2004. This is a record for consecutive weeks at No. 1 – he overtook Jimmy Connors’ mark of 160 straight weeks on 26^th February. Federer is in fourth place for the most total weeks at No. 1, behind Pete Sampras (286 weeks), Ivan Lendl (270 weeks) and Connors (268).

· 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 and three women in history have won five or more consecutive titles at one Grand Slam event. Bjorn Borg and Martina Navratilova are the only players to have achieved this feat in the Open Era. Both achieved this at Wimbledon, winning the title for five successive years from 1976-80 and 1982-87 respectively. [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 after William Renshaw and Pete Sampras, who both won seven titles, Laurie Doherty and Bjorn Borg. [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.[see table overleaf.]

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’s 129-22 win-loss record in Grand Slam tournaments is the best among active players (in terms of matches won).

· Federer has now won a record 52 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 52-match grass court winning streak, Federer has defeated 40 different players from 20 different countries through his quarterfinal defeat of Ferrero here, and lost 14 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 32 matches in a row at Wimbledon. During that run, he has dropped just six 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.

· The only year in his entire career that Pete Sampras did not play a warm-up event, in 1996, he failed to win the Wimbledon title, losing in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Richard Krajicek. In contrast, Bjorn Borg contested a warm-up event just once, 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

· 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’s title at Hamburg in May (see above) was the 48^th of his career and moved him ahead of Rod Laver on the list of all-time Open Era title leaders and into sole ownership of tenth place.

· 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. At 2006 Roland Garros, Federer became the 15th man in history to reach the final at all four Grand Slam events.

· Federer won the boys’ singles at Wimbledon in 1998, defeating Irakli Labadze 64 64 in the final. Federer ended 1998 as ITF Junior World Champion.

· The only other Swiss player to reach a Grand Slam semifinal in the Open Era is Marc Rosset, who lost at 1996 Roland Garros to Michael Stich 63 64 62.

· Gasquet has reached his first Grand Slam semifinal in his 16^th Grand Slam event. He had never previously progressed beyond the round of 16 at a Slam.

· Gasquet has become the first French Grand Slam semifinalist since Sebastien Grosjean reached back-to-back semifinals at Wimbledon in 2003-04.

· Gasquet is the fourth Frenchman to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon in the Open Era. He is bidding to become just the second French finalist here in that time following Cedric Pioline, who lost to Pete Sampras 64 62 64 in the final in 1997. It is 61 years since a Frenchman won the Wimbledon title, Yvon Petra doing so in 1946 by defeating Geoffrey Brown 62 64 79 57 64 in the final.

Frenchman in Wimbledon semifinals

Year	Player	Result	Eventual finish
1986	Henri Leconte	l. Boris Becker 62 64 67 63	--
1997	Cedric Pioline	d. Michael Stich 67 62 61 57 64	Runner-up
2003	Sebastien Grosjean	l. Mark Philippoussis 76 63 63	--
2004	Sebastien Grosjean	l. Roger Federer 62 63 76	--
2007	Richard Gasquet	v Roger Federer ???	??

· Only one Frenchman has reached any Grand Slam final since Cedric Pioline advanced to the Wimbledon final in 1997. Arnaud Clement reached the final at the 2001 Australian Open before losing to Andre Agassi 64 62 62. Only one Frenchman has won a Grand Slam Open Era title, Yannick Noah at 1983 Roland Garros.

· If Gasquet upsets Federer today, this would be the first time in the Open Era that a Frenchman and Frenchwoman have reached finals at the same Grand Slam event, following his countrywoman Marion Bartoli’s surprise victory over Justine Henin in the women’s semifinals on Friday.

· Gasquet’s victory over Roddick was just his second in 13 career meetings with a Top 5 player. His only previous victory in such meetings came against world No. 1 Roger Federer at 2005 AMS Monte Carlo.

· Gasquet’s quarterfinal victory over Roddick was his first career comeback from two-sets-to-love down. These are the first two sets that Gasquet has dropped at this year’s Wimbledon.

· Roddick was the first direct entrant that Gasquet had faced at this year’s Wimbledon, having defeated three qualifiers and a wild card in his first four matches. Gasquet has also faced three successive French opponents at this year’s Wimbledon from the second round through the round of 16.

· Gasquet is making his fourth consecutive appearance at Wimbledon. His previous best performance was reaching the round of 16 in 2005, losing to David Nalbandian 64 76 60. Last year, he lost in the first round to eventual champion Roger Federer 63 62 62.

· Gasquet’s previous best performance at any Grand Slam was reaching the round of 16 at the 2005 and 2006 US Open, the 2007 Australian Open, as well as here in 2005.

· 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 indoors on hard court - he lost 64 63.

· Gasquet’s best result on any surface prior to Wimbledon 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, losing to Tommy Robredo 64 62 36 64. He lost in the second round at Roland Garros to Kristof Vliegen 76 63 61.

· Gasquet reached a career-high ranking of No. 11 on 11 June this year. He is projected to break into the Top 10 for the first time at No. 7 when the new rankings are published on Monday.

· Gasquet received his highest Wimbledon seeding this year at No. 12. Gasquet’s highest-ever Grand Slam seeding was No. 11 at 2007 Roland Garros.

· The No. 12 seed has only reached the Wimbledon final on two occasions since 16 seeds were first introduced in 1968. In 2000, No. 12 seed Pat Rafter lost to Pete Sampras in the final while in 1992, Andre Agassi became the only No. 12 seed to win the Wimbledon title, defeating Goran Ivanisevic. (Note: there were only 8 seeds in 1971-73 and 12 in 1974)

· 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.

· Gasquet has won one Grand Slam title, taking the mixed doubles crown at 2004 Roland Garros with compatriot Tatiana Golovin.

· Gasquet never played the boy’s singles at Wimbledon although he finished 2002 as ITF Junior World Champion, after winning the boys’ title at Roland Garros and at the US Open.

Head-to-head: Nadal leads 4-1

Nadal and Djokovic meet in a Grand Slam semifinal for the second Slam running, Nadal having won in straight sets at Roland Garros en route to his third successive title. This is their third meeting at a Slam, Djokovic having retired with a back injury in their first-ever match-up at Roland Garros.

The two players are contesting the third youngest Wimbledon semifinal in the Open Era. In 2006 Nadal became the fourth-youngest finalist at Wimbledon in the Open Era, at 20 years, 36 days (age at end of event). Djokovic, at 20 years, 47 days, would be the fifth-youngest Wimbledon finalist.

Year	Player	Age*	Result in final
1985	Boris Becker	17 years, 227 days	d. Kevin Curren 63 67 76 64
1986	Boris Becker	18 years, 226 days	d. Ivan Lendl 64 63 75
1976	Bjorn Borg	20 years, 27 days	d. Ilie Nastase 64 62 97
2006	Rafael Nadal	20 years, 36 days	l. Roger Federer 60 76 67 63
2007	Novak Djokovic ???	20 years, 47 days	???

Road to the semifinals ^official time according to umpire’s scorecard

Nadal	Time^		Time^	Djokovic
d. Mardy Fish 63 76 63	2:19	1st Round	1:35	d. Potito Starace 60 63 64
d. Werner Eschauer 62 64 61	1:37	2nd Round	2:20	d. Amer Delic 63 36 63 76
d. No. 28 Robin Soderling 64 64 67 46 75	4:05	3rd Round	3:40	d. Nicolas Kiefer 76 67 62 76
d. No. 14 Mikhail Youzhny 46 36 61 62 62	3:06	Round of 16	4:12	d. No. 16 Lleyton Hewitt 76 76 46 76
d. No. 7 Thomas Berdych 76 64 62	2:08	Quarterfinals	4:59	d. No. 10 Marcus Baghdatis 76 76 67 46 75

· Nadal is bidding to reach his second successive Wimbledon final and his fifth career Grand Slam final. In addition to his runner-up showing at 2006 Wimbledon, he has been champion at Roland Garros for the last three years. He has never lost a Grand Slam semifinal.

· Nadal’s route to the semifinals included two successive five-set victories to improve his career five-set win-loss record to 9-2. He has won his last seven five-set matches. Nadal’s five-set win over Robin Soderling in the third round spanned five days due to rain, and he then came from two-sets-to-love down for the third time in his career to defeat Mikhail Youzhny in the round of 16.

· Nadal reached the 2006 Wimbledon final, losing to Roger Federer 60 76 67 63, marking 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 is making his fifth appearance at Wimbledon. On his Grand Slam debut as a 17-year-old here in 2003, he 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.

· 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 more details, see page 4 of the Preview.]

· For the first time at Wimbledon in the Open Era, two Spaniards reached the quarterfinals, the other being Juan Carlos Ferrero. Ferrero lost his quarterfinal against defending champion Roger Federer.

· 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. Last year, he became the first left-handed player to reach the Wimbledon final since Goran Ivanisevic went on to lift the trophy in 2001.

· 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.

· Nadal is in his 102^nd straight week as world No. 2, having held the ranking since 25 July 2005. (Roger Federer is in his 179^th week at No. 1, since 2 February 2004.)

· Djokovic is bidding to reach his first Grand Slam final. He is appearing in his second successive Grand Slam semifinal. Djokovic reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at 2007 Roland Garros, seeded No. 6, losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal (see head-to-head above).

· Djokovic fell to the eventual champion at the year’s first two Grand Slam events, previously losing to Roger Federer 62 75 63 in the round of 16 at the Australian Open.

· By reaching the semifinals, Djokovic’s ranking is predicted to rise to No. 3 when the new rankings are issued on Monday. He previously achieved a career-high ranking of No. 4 on 11 June 2007.

· Djokovic has contested the two longest singles matches at 2007 Wimbledon. His quarterfinal victory over Marcos Baghdatis lasted 4 hours 59 minutes, the longest singles match here since 2000. His round of 16 victory over Lleyton Hewitt lasted 4 hours 12 minutes.

· Djokovic is bidding to become the first Serbian man to reach a Grand Slam final. At 2007 Roland Garros he became only the second Serbian man to reach a Grand Slam semifinal, after Slobodan Zivojinovic. Zivojinovic lost in the Wimbledon semifinals in 1986. [see table overleaf]

Event	Player	SF result
1985 Australian Open	Slobodan Zivojinovic	l. Mats Wilander 75 61 63
1986 Wimbledon	Slobodan Zivojinovic	l. Ivan Lendl 62 67 63 67 64
2007 Roland Garros	Novak Djokovic	l. Rafael Nadal 75 64 62
2007 Wimbledon	Novak Djokovic	v. Rafael Nadal ???

· Djokovic joined female compatriot Ana Ivanovic in the 2007 Wimbledon semifinals, with Ivanovic losing her women’s semifinal on Friday to Venus Williams. At 2007 Roland Garros, Ivanovic became the first Serbian man or woman to reach a Grand Slam final, before losing to Justine Henin. There were a record three Serbian players in the Roland Garros semifinals: Djokovic, Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic.

· This is only Djokovic’s fifth tournament on grass. He has played four previous events on the surface, with his previous best showing a round of 16 appearance at 2006 Wimbledon.

· Through his quarterfinal victory here, Djokovic has now accumulated a 46-10 win-loss record so far for 2007, placing him second behind Rafael Nadal (50-7) for total number of match wins.

· Djokovic was joined in the round of 16 by countryman Janko Tipsarevic, marking the first time that two Serbian men had reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon in the Open Era. (Tipsarevic lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero in their round of 16 match on Tuesday.)

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

· Djokovic is making his third appearance at 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 won three tour titles in 2007: Adelaide (d. Chris Guccione 63 67 64), AMS Miami (d. Guillermo Canas 63 62 64) and Estoril (d. Richard Gasquet 76 06 61), taking his career total to five titles. He also reached the final at AMS Indian Wells (l. Rafael Nadal 62 75).

· As No. 4 seed here, Djokovic received the highest Grand Slam seeding of his career. The No. 4 seed has gone on to win the Wimbledon title on six previous occasions, most recently Roger Federer in 2003.

· Djokovic has a 14-6 career win-loss record against lefthanders, four of those losses being to Nadal.

· Djokovic has contrasting head-to-head records against his potential final opponents. He trails Roger Federer 0-4, but has a 2-0 win-loss record against Gasquet.

Semifinals

7:18 Total Time On Court ^ 9:55

Road to the Semifinals ^ official time according to umpire’s scorecard

Grand Slam finals reached (Open Era)

No of GS finals

All-time Grand Slam title leaders

Rank

No. of titles

Roger Federer

Open Era grass court title leaders

No. of titles

Frenchman in Wimbledon semifinals

Year

Head-to-head: Nadal leads 4-1

Road to the semifinals ^official time according to umpire’s scorecard