Wimbledon 2007
Tennis Championships


 

2007 WIMBLEDON

DAY 13 MEN’S NOTES

Sunday 8 July 2007

Doubles Final

NO. 1 BOB BRYAN/MIKE BRYAN (USA)

v

No. 10 ARNAUD CLEMENT/MICHAEL LLODRA (FRA)

Head-to-head: tied 2-2

2004     Adelaide                        Hard (O)            FR        Bryan/Bryan                  75 63

2005     AMS Miami                   Hard (O)            R32      Clement/Llodra              76 63

2007     Sydney                         Hard (O)            R16      Clement/Llodra              46 76 [10-5]

2007     AMS Rome                   Clay (O)            R16      Bryan/Bryan                  64 61

This is the fifth career meeting between the two teams and their third this year. The Bryan brothers are bidding for their sixth Grand Slam title against Grand Slam final debutants Clement and Llodra. Llodra has won two previous Grand Slam titles with Fabrice Santoro.

Road to the Final

BOB BRYAN/MIKE BRYAN

·         The Bryan brothers are bidding to defend their Wimbledon title. They are appearing in their third successive Wimbledon final.

·         The last men’s doubles team to successfully defend their title here were Jonas Bjorkman and Todd Woodbridge, who won their third successive title in 2004.

·         This is the Bryans’ 12th appearance in a Grand Slam tournament final. They are bidding to win their sixth Grand Slam title. They made their first successful Grand Slam title defence at the 2007 Australian Open.

The Bryans in Grand Slam finals (continued over)

·         By reaching their 11^th Grand Slam final at the 2007 Australian Open, the Bryans moved ahead of Fleming/McEnroe and Lutz/Smith into sole possession of second place for the most Open Era Grand Slam final appearances by a team.

Most Grand Slam team doubles final appearances (Open Era)

·         If they win their sixth Grand Slam doubles title today, the Bryans will move into fourth place on their own for the most Grand Slam doubles titles won by a team in the Open Era.

Most Grand Slam team doubles titles (Open Era)

* also won pre-Open Era titles

·         At 2006 Wimbledon, the Bryans became the first men’s doubles team to reach seven successive Grand Slam finals since Ken McGregor and Frank Sedgman, who reached eight consecutive finals in 1951 and 1952. The streak was broken for the Bryans when they lost in the round of 16 at the 2006 US Open (to Leos Friedl/Mikhail Youzhny).

·         Winning 2006 Wimbledon completed a career Grand Slam of doubles titles for the Bryans. They became the third doubles teams to win all four majors in the Open Era, after Jacco Eltingh/Paul Haarhuis, and Mark Woodforde/Todd Woodbridge.

·         The Bryans are the third brothers to win any Grand Slam event in the Open Era after fellow Americans Luke and Murphy Jensen (1993 Roland Garros) and Sandy and Gene Mayer (1979 Roland Garros).

·         In 2005, the Bryans became only the second team in the Open Era to reach all four Grand Slam finals in a year after Mahesh Bhupathi/Leander Paes, in 1999. The Indian duo won Roland Garros and Wimbledon in that year.

·         Overall, this is the Bryans’ 38^th Grand Slam doubles event, and ninth Wimbledon appearance. They have played every year together here since 1999.

·         The Bryans have won a tour-leading six doubles titles this year. They retained their Australian Open title, and also won Las Vegas, AMS Miami, Houston, AMS Monte Carlo and AMS Hamburg. However they were defeated in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros by Lukas Dlouhy and Pavel Vizner 57 64 64, their earliest defeat there since 2002.

·         The Bryans finished 2006 as the No. 1-ranked team for the second consecutive year, and the third time in four years. They collected a career-best seven titles, the most for any duo during the season, winning the Australian Open, Las Vegas, Wimbledon, Los Angeles, Washington, AMS Toronto and AMS Madrid.

·         With a total of 39 titles on all surfaces, the Bryans are the most successful brothers in terms of titles won in the Open Era; Tim and Tom Gullikson are the second best with ten titles.

·         In addition to his 39 doubles titles with his brother, Mike Bryan has won two additional doubles titles with other partners: 2002 Nottingham (with Mark Knowles) and 2002 Long Island (with Mahesh Bhupathi).

·         The twins have played together on the tour for over 11 years, making their team debut as wild cards at the 1995 US Open.

·         Both Bob and Mike Bryan have also won Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. Mike Bryan has won two: the 2002 US Open and 2003 Roland Garros with Lisa Raymond. Bob has won three: the 2003 US Open with Katerina Srebotnik, the 2004 US Open with Vera Zvonareva, and the 2006 US Open with Martina Navratilova.

ARNAUD CLEMENT/MICHAEL LLODRA

·         Clement and Llodra have reached their first Grand Slam final as a pairing in their fifth Grand Slam together. They saved a match point in their second round win over Amer Delic and Bobby Reynolds, in a match that was played over three days due to rain.

·         Clement and Llodra are the first all-French pairing to reach the Wimbledon doubles final in the Open Era. Jean Claude Barclay and Pierre Darmon were the last French pair to reach the doubles final in 1963, losing to Rafael Osuna and Antonio Palafax (MEX) 46 62 62 62. Jean Borotra and Jacques Brugnon were the last French pair to win the doubles title here in 1933, defeating Ryosuki Nanoi and Jiro Satoh (JPN) 46 63 63 75.

·         In 2006, Fabrice Santoro became the first Frenchman to reach the Wimbledon doubles final since Barclay and Darmon in 1963. Santoro and Nenad Zimonjic lost to the Bryans 63 46 64 62 in the final.

·         Only three all-French teams have won Grand Slam doubles titles in the Open Era, with Llodra partnering Fabrice Santoro to back-to-back Australian Open doubles titles in 2003-04.

All-French Pairings in Grand Slam Finals (Open Era)

·         Although Clement and Llodra first teamed up at the 2001 World Team Cup, they did not start to play regularly together until 2006. They have won three career titles: 2004 St Petersburg, 2006 AMS Paris and 2007 Marseille.

·         Clement and Llodra’s previous best Grand Slam performance was reaching the quarterfinals at the 2006 US Open. In 2007 Grand Slam play, they lost in the first round at the Australian Open, and reached the third round at Roland Garros.

·         Clement and Llodra’s 2007 highlights before coming here were winning their third career title at Marseille (d. Mark Knowles/Daniel Nestor 75 46 [10-8]) and reaching the semifinals at AMS Miami.

·         Clement and Llodra have played six Davis Cup doubles rubbers together for France, boasting a 4-2 win-loss record.

·         Llodra has won a total of 11 career doubles titles with four different partners. He has enjoyed greatest success with countryman Fabrice Santoro, their six titles including the 2003-04 Australian Open and 2005 Tennis Masters Cup. Clement has won a total of eight career doubles titles with five different partners, all French.

·         Unlike today’s opponents, Clement and Llodra are both regular singles players. At this year’s Wimbledon, Llodra lost in the second round to No. 7 seed Thomas Berdych 76 76 36 76, while Clement suffered a first round defeat to qualifier Nicolas Mahut 63 36 76 64.

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