Djokovic Set To Defend Wimbledon Title

NOVAK EYES CALENDAR SLAM – Novak Djokovic is the first man to win four consecutive Grand Slam singles titles since Rod Laver won a calendar Grand Slam in 1969 (also in 1962). Now the World No. 1 is halfway to matching Laver’s feat from 47 years ago. The 29-year-old Serb became the eighth man to win a career Grand Slam as he lifted the Roland Garros trophy on June 5 in his 12^th appearance in Paris. Djokovic enters Wimbledon on a 28-match Grand Slam tournament winning streak. He’s trying to become the first man to win five Grand Slam events in a row since Don Budge won a record six straight from 1937 Wimbledon to 1938 US Championships. 

BIG FOUR DOMINATION –The Big 4 of Djokovic, Murray, Federer, and Nadal have combined to win 41 of the past 45 Grand Slam titles, with the only exceptions being the 2009 US Open  (del Potro), 2014 Australian Open and 2015 Roland Garros (Wawrinka) and 2014 US Open (Cilic). During the current stretch, Nadal has won 14 titles, Federer 13, Djokovic 12 and Murray two. The last Wimbledon champion other than one of the Big Four was then-No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt in 2002. The foursome also have accounted for 52 of the past 56 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles (since ’10 Monte-Carlo).

TOP FOUR SEEDS TITLE HOLDERS – The last time a player seeded outside of the Top 4 won the Wimbledon title was in 2001 when No. 125^th-ranked Goran Ivanisevic took advantage of a wild card opportunity to defeat Patrick Rafter in a five-set Monday final. This is the longest current stretch of Top 4 titles of any Grand Slam tournament. Since 2002, when No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt won the title, four other players have won the Wimbledon crown – Federer (seven times), Djokovic (three times), Nadal (twice) and Andy Murray (once).  In fact, only seven players in the Open Era (since 1968) not seeded among the Top 4 have won the title.

TOP SEED/REIGNING CHAMP – Djokovic is the No. 1 seed for the fifth straight year at Wimbledon. Last year, he defeated Federer in four sets to win his third title at the All England Club. The 29-year-old Serb also won the Wimbledon crown in 2011 and 2014. Djokovic has a 52-8 record at the All England Club and has advanced to the semi-finals or better the past six years. He also was runner-up in 2013. He is coming off his first title at Roland Garros (d. Murray). Djokovic is the first player seeded No. 1 for five consecutive years at Wimbledon since Federer from 2004-08. At the start of the tournament, Djokovic has been No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for 104 consecutive weeks, 205 overall. He has held No. 1 every week since July 7, 2014.

ROLAND GARROS-WIMBLEDON SWEEP – Djokovic is the first player to win Australian Open and Roland Garros titles in the same year since Jim Courier in 1992. He will attempt to become the fifth man in the Open Era to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon titles in the same year. The others to accomplish the feat are: Rod Laver in 1969, Bjorn Borg in 1978-79-80, Nadal in 2008 and 2010 and Federer in 2009.

WEEKS AT NO. 1 – Djokovic is fifth on the overall weeks at No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and fourth on the consecutive weeks at No. 1 list.

THE KING OF GRASS – Federer has an Open Era record 15 grass court titles (15-6 in finals) and the best winning percentage on grass with a career record of 147-22 (.870). He’s won at least one grass court title in 11 of the past 14 years (except 2010-11, ‘16). In 2007, he became the second player (Bjorn Borg) in the Open Era to capture five consecutive Wimbledon titles. Federer’s 40-match unbeaten streak at Wimbledon ended to Nadal in 2008. Borg won a record 41 matches in a row at the All England Club (five titles from 1976-80 before losing in ‘81 final to McEnroe). Prior to Federer’s winning streak, he had a 16-11 career record on grass from 1999-2002. Since 2003, he is 131-11 on grass. He comes into Wimbledon with a 16-6 match record on the season (5-2 on grass) and without at least one ATP World Tour title for the first time since 2000. The 34-year-old Swiss native’s best result is a runner-up in the opening week of the season in Brisbane (l. to Raonic). In 2012, Federer won his record-tying seventh Wimbledon title, defeating Murray. Federer tied Pete Sampras and William Renshaw for the most singles titles at the All England Club. At 30, Federer became the oldest singles champion since Arthur Ashe (31) in 1975. Federer is making his 18^th straight appearance at Wimbledon and he’s reached the quarter-finals or better in 12 of the past 13 years. This is the 14^th straight year he’s a Top 4 seed.

MURRAY ON A ROLL – Murray comes into Wimbledon with a 33-6 match record on the season and he’s won 16 of his past 17 matches, winning ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome (d. Djokovic), reaching the final at Roland Garros (l. to Djokovic), his 10^th in a Grand Slam tournament, and capturing a record fifth title at Queen’s Club (d. Raonic). The 2013 Wimbledon champion compiled an 18-3 match record on clay. Since the beginning of 2011, Murray has advanced to the quarter-finals or better in 20 of his past 21 Grand Slam tournaments (’15 US Open, 4R) played (DNP ’13 Roland Garros). This is the second time Murray comes into Wimbledon as the No. 2 seed. Three years ago, Murray came in as the No. 2 seed, the highest by a British man since Bunny Austin was No. 1 in 1939. He defeated Djokovic in the final to become the first British man to win the Wimbledon title since Fred Perry in 1936.

LOPEZ ACTIVE SLAM STREAK LEADER – Federer’s record of 65 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments played ended with his withdrawal at Roland Garros. Federer’s streak began at the 2000 Australian Open. There are seven other players in the Top 10 longest consecutive Grand Slam tournaments played, led by current leader Feliciano Lopez (58). The other active players with 50+ current streaks: Fernando Verdasco (53) and Tomas Berdych (52).  Here is a look at the Top 10 longest streaks in the Open Era and active players in draw.

+ denotes active streak including Wimbledon

NEXT GENERATION FINALISTS – Three teenagers have reached ATP World Tour finals this season: Borna Coric (in Chennai, Marrakech), Taylor Fritz (Memphis) and Alexander Zverev (Nice, Halle). Nick Kyrgios won his maiden ATP World Tour title in Marseille in February.

ZVEREV ON THE RISE – No. 24 seed Alexander Zverev, at 19 years, 2 months, is the youngest of the 32 seeds in the main draw. Zverev has compiled a 27-15 match record this season, reaching two finals (Nice, Halle) and two other semi-finals (Montpellier, Munich). He posted his first career Top 10 win over No. 3 Federer in the semi-finals of Halle. He is the youngest seed at Wimbledon since No. 4 Nadal and No. 27 Richard Gasquet in 2005.

THIEM WINS LEADER – The youngest member of the Top 10 Emirates ATP Rankings is 22-year-old Austrian Dominic Thiem, who leads the ATP World Tour with 47 match wins. The No. 8-ranked Thiem is the only player to win titles on all three surfaces this season (clay, grass, hard). His four titles is the second-most on the ATP World Tour behind Djokovic (six).

DEL POTRO RETURNS – Former World No. 4 Juan Martin del Potro returns to Wimbledon for the first time since 2013 when he reached the semi-finals (l. to Djokovic in five sets). The 27-year-old Argentine has an 11-7 match record on the season and is No. 164 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. His career record at the All England Club is 14-6.

HEALTHY FIELD  – As of June 24, there were three main draw withdrawals from the 104 direct acceptances: Thanasi Kokkinakis (shoulder), Rafael Nadal (wrist) and Tommy Robredo (elbow).

30-OVER CHAMPIONS – Federer, who won Wimbledon in 2012 at 30 years, 335 days, is looking to become the fifth player in the Open Era to win two or more Grand Slams titles after turning 30. Andre Agassi was the last man to achieve the feat, winning the Australian Open in 2001 and in 2003 (at 32 years, 272 days). There are a Wimbledon record 49 players aged 30 or over in the main draw. Here are the players to win at least two Slam singles titles after turning 30:

LEAD-UP UP TO WIMBLEDON TITLE – In seven of the past 14 years, the Wimbledon champion came into the tournament having won a title in one of the pre-Wimbledon ATP World Tour grass court events: Andy Murray (2013 Queen’s), Rafael Nadal (2008 Queen’s), Roger Federer (2003-06 Halle) and Lleyton Hewitt (2002 Queen’s). In the Open Era (since 1968), only seven different players (14 times) have won the Wimbledon title without playing a warm-up tournament on grass, including Djokovic in 2011 and in the past two years. Bjorn Borg won all five of his Wimbledon titles straight off his Roland Garros success.

GRAND SLAM MATCH WINS LEADERS – Federer is the all-time match wins leader (302) in Grand Slam history while Djokovic is No. 5 with 221 wins and Nadal is No. 8 with 200 wins.

FRENCHMEN LEAD DOUBLES DRAW – The top seeds are the French duo of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, who are No. 2 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings. Herbert and Mahut come in with a 23-4 match record on the season. They are coming off a repeat title effort at The Queen’s Club. They won the first three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles in Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo. The No. 2 seeds are three-time (2007, ’11, ’13) Wimbledon doubles champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, who are making their 18^th straight appearance (66-14 record). They are also four-time finalists (2005, ’07, ’09, ‘14). The Bryans lead the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings – The defending champions are No. 4 seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau. They captured their first Grand Slam crown together (d. J. Murray/Peers). Here is a look at Top 8 seeded teams:

1) Pierre-Hugues Herbert & Nicolas Mahut

2) Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan

3) Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares

4) Jean-Julien Rojer & Horia Tecau

5) Ivan Dodig & Marcelo Melo

6) Rohan Bopanna & Florin Mergea

7) Lukasz Kubot & Alexander Peya

8) Vasek Pospisil & Jack Sock

22 DIFFERENT CHAMPIONS – In the past 11 Grand Slam tournaments, there have been 11 different teams and 22 different players win a title. Here is a look at the different winners going back to 2013 US Open:

2016 Roland Garros – Feliciano Lopez & Marc Lopez

2016 Australian Open – Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares           

2015 US Open – Pierre-Hugues Herbert & Nicolas Mahut

2015 Wimbledon – Jean-Julien Rojer & Horia Tecau

2015 Roland Garros – Ivan Dodig & Marcelo Melo

2015 Australian Open – Simone Bolelli & Fabrio Fognini                   

2014 US Open – Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan

2014 Wimbledon – Vasek Pospisil & Jack Sock

2014 Roland Garros – Julien Benneteau & E. Roger-Vasselin

2014 Australian Open – Lukasz Kubot & Robert Lindstedt

2013 US Open – Leander Paes & Radek Stepanek

In Case You Missed It

Steve Johnson claimed his maiden ATP World Tour title at the Aegon Open Nottingham. Read

Daniel Nestor earned his 89^th tour-level doubles title with the help of new partner Dominic Inglot. Read

Roger Federer sees Wimbledon as a potential turning point for his 2016 season. Read

Nick Kyrgios believes he’ll have his work cut out for him at Wimbledon. Read

Kei Nishikori will attempt to make the best out of a short run-up to SW19. Read

Milestone Watch

A look at the players approaching career milestones:

– Fernando Verdasco is three singles match wins away from 450 in his career

– Julien Benneteau is five away from 250 singles match wins

– Julian Knowle is four doubles match wins away from No. 400

– Three more doubles match wins and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi will hit No. 250

– Marc Lopez needs six more doubles match wins to reach No. 250

Rankings Movers

+12 Andreas Seppi (45)

+9 Steve Johnson (29)

+8 Dudi Sela (63)

+4 Daniel Evans (91)

+3 Dustin Brown (85)

+3 Damir Dzumhur (87)

Birthdays

29 June – Adrian Mannarino (28)

30 June – Dusan Lajovic (26)

10 July – Jiri Vesely (23)