Wimbledon 2007
Tennis Championships


 

2007 WIMBLEDON

 DAY 13 MEN’S NOTES

Sunday 8 July 2007

Singles Final

NO. 1 ROGER FEDERER (SUI) v NO. 2 RAFAEL NADAL (ESP)

At stake for the two finalists, in addition to the prestige of the Wimbledon title, is the following:

Wimbledon 2007 is the 121st staging of The Lawn Tennis Championships, which began in 1877 with Spencer Gore defeating William Marshall 61 62 64 for the inaugural title. This is the 40^th staging of The Championships in the Open Era, the first being in 1968 when Rod Laver defeated Tony Roche 63 64 62 in the final.

Only 18 different men have won Wimbledon titles in the Open Era, the fewest of any of the four Grand Slam events. Nadal could become the 19^th different champion if he wins today.

Sixth successful defence ?

If Roger Federer defeats Rafael Nadal and successfully defends his Wimbledon title, this will mark the sixth consecutive Grand Slam event where the champion has successfully defended his title.

Melbourne master meets Paris champ

For the second time in the Open Era, and the second year running, the reigning Australian Open champion faces the reigning Roland Garros champion in the Wimbledon final.

From Roland Garros to the Wimbledon final

World No. 1 Roger Federer and world No. 2 Rafael Nadal meet for a second consecutive Grand Slam final, following their showdown at Roland Garros four weeks ago. Last year’s Wimbledon was the first time that the same finalists met 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. This is the seventh instance of the same two players reaching back-to-back Grand Slam finals in the Open Era.

Same players appearing in back-to-back Grand Slam finals (Open Era)

Last year was the first time in the Open Era, and the sixth time in history, that Roland Garros and Wimbledon had had the same two finalists in the same year. This is now only the second time that the same two men have featured in both finals in two consecutive years matching the achievement of Fred Perry and Gottfried Von Cramm in 1935-36.

Same finalists at Roland Garros and Wimbledon (all time)

Top two seeds return to the final

This is the fourth year in succession that the top two seeds have met in the Wimbledon men’s final, and the tenth time in the Open Era. This is the 22nd time since seedings began in 1927 that the top two seeds have reached the Wimbledon final. The No. 1 seed holds a 15-6 advantage in such finals to date.

At other majors in the Open Era, the top two seeds have met in the final five times at Roland Garros, seven times at the Australian Open and ten times at the US Open.

This is also the 11th time in the last 15 majors that two existing Grand Slam champions have met in the final.

ATP Rankings update

Regardless of the outcome of the final, Federer and Nadal will still occupy the No. 1 and No. 2 positions respectively in the ATP rankings when they are published on Monday. Federer is in his 179^th week at No. 1, having occupied the top spot every week since 2 February 2004. Nadal has been behind him at No. 2 since 25 July 2005, and is now is in his 102^nd straight week in that position.

Both of the losing semifinalists at this year’s Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic and Richard Gasquet, are also projected to earn new career-high rankings on Monday, Djokovic at No. 3, Gasquet at No. 7.

2007 match win leaders

Both finalists appear among the top four players for most wins on all surfaces this year.

2007 match win leaders (through Wimbledon semifinals)

Head-to-head: Nadal leads 8-4

2004     AMS Miami                   Hard (O)            R32      Nadal                63 63

2005     AMS Miami                   Hard (O)            FR        Federer             26 67 76 63 61

2005     Roland Garros               Clay (O)            SF        Nadal                63 46 64 63

2006     Dubai                            Hard (O)            FR        Nadal                26 64 64

2006     AMS Monte Carlo          Clay(O)             FR        Nadal                62 67 63 76

2006     AMS Rome                   Clay (O)            FR        Nadal                67 76 64 26 76

2006     Roland Garros               Clay (O)            FR        Nadal                16 61 64 76

2006     Wimbledon                    Grass (O)          FR        Federer             60 76 67 63

2006     Tennis Masters Cup       Hard (I)              SF        Federer             64 75

2007     AMS Monte Carlo          Clay (O)            FR        Nadal                64 64

2007     AMS Hamburg               Clay (O)            FR        Federer             26 62 60

2007     Roland Garros               Clay (O)            FR        Nadal                63 46 63 64

This is the pair’s 13^th meeting, but just their second on grass. Although Nadal leads their overall series, Federer has won three of their last five match-ups. Federer defeated Nadal in last year’s Wimbledon final in their first meeting on grass. This is their fifth Grand Slam meeting, as they have also faced off for the last three years at Roland Garros. Today marks their tenth meeting in a final.

Nadal is one of four active players to have a winning head-to-head against Federer where there has beeen more than one meeting.

Winning records v Federer*

*where more than one match played

Federer is the only No. 1 player that Nadal has faced in his short career and the Swiss has been ranked No. 1 at the time of all their meetings, while Federer is playing the No. 2 ranked player for the 19th time in his career, and currently holds a 10-8 win-loss record.

Both Federer and Nadal have benefited from a walkover or retirement on their way to the final here. Novak Djokovic retired (due to a infected blister) against Nadal in the semifinals, with Nadal leading 36 61 41, for the first retirement in a men’s semifinal match here at Wimbledon. Federer received a walkover in the round of 16 from Tommy Haas (torn stomach muscle) and due to rain delays, had a six-day gap between completing his third round victory against Marat Safin and commencing his quarterfinal against Juan Carlos Ferrero.

                       FEDERER                                           v                                          NADAL

                            25                                              Age                                           21

                      6’1” / 1.85m                                     Height                                  6’1” / 1.85m

                    177lbs / 80kg                                    Weight                                 188lbs / 85kg

                             1                                        ATP Ranking                                     2

                      31,237,103                         Career Earnings (US$)*                      11,634,484

                       2,660,645                            2007 Earnings (US$)*                         3,297,545

                            48                                       Career Titles                                    22

                             3                                          2007 Titles                                       4

                         130-22                         Career Grand Slam Record                       53-10

                       Champion                         Best Grand Slam Result                      Champion

                2003-06 Wimbledon                                                                     2005-07 Roland Garros

        2004, 2006-07 Australian Open                                                                                                      

                 2004-06 US Open                                                                                                               

                           37-4                                 Wimbledon Record                              15-3

                        522-133                                  Career Record                                234-58

                          69-11                              Career Record - Grass                            19-6

                           35-5                                      2007 Record                                   51-7

                            5-0                                 2007 Record - Grass                              8-1

                           9-10                             Career Five-Set Record                           9-2

                             3                             Comebacks from 0-2 Down                          3

                        196-108                          Career Tiebreak Record                         54-42

                           12-3                               2007 Tiebreak Record                             9-6

                            9:03                              Total Time on Court ^                           14:56

* earnings as of 25 June 2007

^ official time according to umpire’s scorecard

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

*does not include third set of semifinal match against Djokovic

·         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 three men have secured five or more successive titles at Wimbledon, the last one being Bjorn Borg in 1976-80. (Note: Prior to 1922 the Challenge Round was in existence, which meant that the defending champion only played one match the following year.)

Five or more consecutive Wimbledon titles (all time)

William Renshaw – 1881-86 (six straight titles)

Laurie Doherty – 1902-06 (five straight titles)

Bjorn Borg – 1976-80 (five straight titles)

·         In Grand Slam history, only seven men have won five or more consecutive titles at the same major.

Five or more consecutive Grand Slam titles (all time)

Richard Sears – US Championships - 1881-87 (seven straight titles)

William Renshaw – Wimbledon -1881-86 (six straight titles)

Bill Tilden – US Championships – 1920-25 (six straight titles)

Laurie Doherty – Wimbledon - 1902-06 (five straight titles)

William Larned – US Championships – 1907-11 (five straight titles)

Roy Emerson – Australian Championships – 1963-67 (five straight titles)

Bjorn Borg – Wimbledon - 1976-80 (five straight titles)

·         In addition to these seven men, only three women have won five or more consecutive titles at the same major: Suzanne Lenglen (Wimbledon 1919-23); Margaret Smith (later Court) (Australian Open 1960-66) and Martina Navratilova (Wimbledon 1982-87).

·         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. Bjorn Borg and Pete Sampras are the only men to win five titles here in the Open Era. 

Most Wimbledon titles (all time)

*played Challenge Round (see above)

·         Federer is contesting a record 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 the sixth man in the Open Era to reach 13 or more Grand Slam finals. Of the six men to have reached 13 or more Grand Slam finals in the Open Era, Federer has the highest winning percentage in those finals.

Grand Slam finals reached (Open Era)

*10 wins from 12 previous finals

·         Federer has a 10-2 record in previous Grand Slam finals. He has never lost a Wimbledon final. Before winning the title here for the first time in 2003, his best Wimbledon result was a quarterfinal finish in 2001. In fact 2001 was the only time that Federer advanced beyond the first round in his first four Wimbledon appearances.

Federer in Grand Slam finals

·        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

·         If he does win the title here, Federer will have won his 11th Grand Slam title in his 33rd Grand Slam event. Both Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver won their 11th major in fewer Grand Slam appearances, while Pete Sampras and Roy Emerson took longer.

Fastest to win 11 Grand Slam titles (all time)

·         Federer has now won a record 53 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 53-match grass court winning streak, Federer has defeated 40 different players from 20 different countries through his semifinal defeat of Gasquet 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 33 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.)

·         If Federer wins the title, it will be his ninth career title on grass, earning him third place outright and breaking his tie with John McEnroe in terms of most Open Era grass court titles won.

Career grass court titles (Open Era)

·         Federer has advanced to the final here for the loss of one set. He previously won the title here in 2003, 2005 and 2006 for the loss of one set. 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’s 130-22 win-loss record in Grand Slam tournaments is the best among active players (in terms of matches won).

·         The No. 1 seed has now reached the final here 23 times in the Open Era (40 championships). Of the previous 22 top seeds to reach the final here, 17 have gone on to win the title.

·         This is the 22nd time in the Open Era that the defending champion has reached the final. Of the previous 21 defending champions to reach the final here, 16 have gone on to win the title. (Note: three champions did not defend their titles).

·         Federer’s last defeat to a Spaniard other than Nadal was at 2004 AMS Rome, where he lost to Albert Costa in the second round. Since that defeat, Federer is 32-7 against Spanish opponents through his defeat of Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarterfinals here, all seven losses being to Nadal.

·         Federer has a 48-18 career win-loss record against lefthanders. Apart from losing to Nadal (as detailed above), Federer has not lost to another lefthander since losing to Franco Squillari at 2003 Sydney. He has not played a lefthander other than Nadal since defeating Alejandro Falla in the second round at 2006 Roland Garros.

·         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 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.

·         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’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 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 won the boys’ singles at Wimbledon in 1998, defeating Irakli Labadze 64 64 in the final. Federer ended 1998 as ITF Junior World Champion, after also reaching the final of the US Open boys’ singles and the semifinals of the Australian Open junior event.

·         Federer is the only Swiss man in history to reach a Grand Slam final.

·         Roland Garros champion Nadal is contesting his second successive Wimbledon final, having lost to Roger Federer in last year’s final. He is appearing in his fifth Grand Slam final, having been champion at Roland Garros for the last three years.

·         Nadal’s route to the final 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 is bidding to become only the second Spanish man in history to win the Wimbledon title, after Manolo Santana won the title in 1966, defeating Dennis Ralston 64 119 64. Last year he became only the second Spanish man following Santana to reach the Wimbledon final.

·         In 2006, Nadal became the first Roland Garros champion to reach the final at Wimbledon the same year since Andre Agassi in 1999. Having just won Roland Garros for the third time, he 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.

Roland Garros-Wimbledon Double

                                                        1925               Rene Lacoste

   1933               Jack Crawford

       1935               Fred Perry

                                                        1938               Don Budge

   1950               Budge Patty

       1955               Tony Trabert

                                                        1956               Lew Hoad

                                                        1962,1969       Rod Laver

1978-80                     Bjorn Borg

·         At 21 years, 35 days at the end of the tournament, Nadal is bidding to become the fourth youngest Wimbledon champion. Last year he became the fourth youngest finalist here.

Youngest Wimbledon finalists (Open Era)

* on last day of tournament

·         Nadal is bidding for his fourth Grand Slam title in his 14^th Grand Slam appearance. If he goes on to win the Wimbledon title, he would become the joint-second-fastest man to win four Grand Slam titles in the Open Era. In reaching his fifth Grand Slam final in his 14^th Slam, he has matched the achievement of Mats Wilander, with only Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe reaching their fifth final in fewer appearances (13).

Fastest to win fourth Grand Slam title (Open Era)

·         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 Federer.

·         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 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 is bidding to become only the eighth lefthander in history to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon. 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.

Left-handed Wimbledon singles champions (all time)

·         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.

·         The last No. 2 seed to win the title at Wimbledon was Pete Sampras in 1995. The No. 2 seed has won the men’s title here eight times in the Open Era.

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