Roger Federer wins 8th Wimbledon title after defeating Marin Cilic
There was little to suggest much of a contest was possible during the first set of Sunday’s Wimbledon Men’s…
There was little to suggest much of a contest was possible during the first set of Sunday’s Wimbledon Men’s…
Garbine Muguruza is the 2017 Wimbledon champion after an impressive performance against Venus Williams in the final…
Eight-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer says “it would mean a lot” to reach the top of the world rankings again.
Britain’s Johanna Konta has risen to a career-high fourth in the women’s rankings after Wimbledon, while Andy Murray remains men’s world number one.
Konta, 26, is the fourth British woman to break into the top five, following her run to the Wimbledon semi-finals.
She matches the achievement of Virginia Wade, Sue Barker and Jo Durie, the last British woman in the top five in 1984.
Murray, 30, lost in the Wimbledon quarter-finals but retains top spot ahead of Rafael Nadal.
The Spaniard could overtake Murray at the pair’s next tournament, the men’s Rogers Cup in Montreal, which begins on 7 August.
However, the Scot’s Wimbledon campaign was hampered by a hip injury and he has yet to confirm whether the recovery process will alter his plans for the rest of 2017.
Konta further established her credentials as a Grand Slam title contender by reaching her second major semi-final at Wimbledon, and she now heads to the United States and her best surface – hard courts.
The British number one is next due on court at the women’s Rogers Cup, which starts in Toronto on 7 August, having chosen not to defend her title at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California.
Konta beat Venus Williams to win her first WTA title in Stanford last year, and could suffer a dip in her ranking as a result.
The world rankings work on a 52-week rolling system, which means success in one year can mean pressure 12 months later as those points are defended.
Konta enjoyed a strong second half to 2016, narrowly missing out on a place at the WTA Finals for the top eight players, and that will be a major goal in the months to come.
Another tilt at a Grand Slam title will begin on 28 August at the US Open, where Konta has reached the fourth round for the past two years.
Konta will pick up her racquet and get back on the practice court having finished Wimbledon at the top of the aces charts and fourth for first-serve returns.
But, while the foundations of her game are strong, Williams exposed some areas for improvement in their semi-final.
“Jo’s got a great game,” said former British number one Sam Smith.
“She’s an excellent athlete and mentally she’s a top, top player. If I know anything about Jo, she is going to learn so much from that match against Venus, and apply it.”
Konta failed to break into the top 100 in the early years of her career, with a fragile mentality and unreliable forehand two of the major factors.
Her work with both mental and tennis coaches in recent years has proved remarkably effective, and she held up under huge pressure as her Wimbledon run garnered nationwide attention.
Konta’s forehand stood up well during tense three-set wins over Donna Vekic, Caroline Garcia and Simona Halep, before Williams broke it down and drew 16 errors in the semi-final.
It was notable both Williams and Garbine Muguruza also struggled with their forehands at key moments in the final, but the Spaniard managed to cut the errors from six in the first set to one in the second.
Williams also dismantled the Konta second serve, making her intentions clear from the opening moments when she stood inside the baseline and dispatched a second-serve return, while the Briton missed service returns at key times in both her semi and quarter-finals.
“Jo didn’t use the body serve enough and she can improve her second serve,” said Martina Navratilova, a nine-time Wimbledon singles champion.
“She can use her hand more and make that ball jump. She’s tall enough and got a nice motion that I think she doesn’t take full advantage of.
“But that forehand has got to be more steady, although she’s improved it, and the transition game, moving to the net.
“Also the backhand slice, she doesn’t use it at all. Her backhand is fantastic but the slice would give it more variety and put the opponent off balance.”
Murray’s future is far less certain as we await an update on his injured hip and the rehabilitation plan.
The Briton limped his way through four rounds at Wimbledon before it became “a little bit too sore”, and Sam Querrey proved too strong, in their quarter-final.
“Murray and his team have obviously been trying to manage something,” said former world number one John McEnroe.
“We don’t know exactly what it is, how serious it is, and how much time he’ll take off remains to be seen.
“He clearly wasn’t moving well, he couldn’t push off and lost a lot of speed on his serve.”
A team meeting was planned for last Thursday, and a plan of action is expected after consultation with doctors.
Asked whether he would have attempted to play had it been anywhere but Wimbledon, Murray said: “I was in good enough shape to go very deep in the tournament and almost managed to get through to the semi-finals.
“Any Slam, I would have taken that with how I was feeling before the tournament started. I would have been out there for a Slam.”
Murray refused to be drawn on the specific nature of the injury beyond confirming he has dealt with it since his early 20s, and “wear and tear” made it an ongoing issue.
The recovery plan could mean anything from a few weeks’ rest and physiotherapy, to a much longer lay-off or even surgery.
“I’d say the US Open would be 50/50 at a guess,” Giles Stafford, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon specialising in sports-related hip disorders, told the Press Association.
Murray, then aged 26, ended his 2013 season in September to have back surgery and returned at the start of 2014, but spent the year climbing back up the rankings as he rebuilt his form and confidence.
He is next scheduled to play in Montreal in three weeks’ time, followed by the Cincinnati Masters the following week and, after a week off, the US Open.
Murray could lose his number one status to Nadal should he skip Montreal but, after eight months in top spot, the ranking is not his priority.
“I haven’t played well enough this year to deserve to stay there for much longer,” he said.
“If it doesn’t happen by the end of Wimbledon, it will happen by the end of the US Open.”
If and when he does return this year, Murray will head into the latter stages of the season with a 25-10 record, as opposed to 41-6 after Wimbledon last year.
An executive summary of what every fan should know about the coming week on the ATP World Tour
10 THINGS TO WATCH IN UMAG
1. Back on Clay: The ATP World Tour returns to clay this week with the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag and SkiStar Swedish Open. Headlining in Umag are Top 20 players David Goffin and Gael Monfils, defending champion Fabio Fognini and Croatia’s #NextGenATP superstar Borna Coric.
2. Goffin is Back: Goffin has earned 31 victories this season despite suffering a right ankle injury at Roland Garros that forced him to miss the entire grass-court swing. In February, he became the first Belgian to break into the Emirates ATP Rankings Top 10. Goffin is seeking his first ATP World Tour title since 2014 Metz, having lost his last six finals. He is making his Umag debut this week.
3. Monfils Returns: Like Goffin, Monfils is in search of his first title of the season. The Frenchman fell to 6-20 in finals with a loss to Novak Djokovic at Eastbourne on 1 July. Only one of Monfils’ titles – his first at 2005 Sopot – came on clay. He reached the Umag semi-finals in 2013 and 2015.
4. Fognini Turns 10: Fognini and fellow seed Paolo Lorenzi lead a strong contingent from nearby Italy. Fognini is making his 10th straight appearance at Umag, reaching the 2013 final before capturing the title last year. Lorenzi has yet to taste success here, posting a 1-5 tournament record.
5. Coric Comes Home: Coric made his ATP World Tour debut at 2013 Umag and earned his first victory at 2014 Umag. But he missed the event in 2016 after leading Croatia to a road win over the USA in the Davis Cup quarter-finals. Back this week, the 20-year-old Coric hopes to become the third Croatian in the event’s 28-year history to win the title (Goran Prpic in 1990, Marin Cilic in 2012).
6. WC to Dodig: Coric’s countryman Ivan Dodig has received a singles wild card. Dodig, 32, is on an eight-match tour-level losing streak and seeking his first singles win since Nottingham in June 2016. He has won seven doubles and one singles title, which came on home soil at 2014 Zagreb.
7. Dodig/Skugor in Doubles: Dodig and Davis Cup teammate Franko Skugor will team for just the second time at an ATP event (also 2008 Zagreb). Skugor and another Croatian, Nikola Mektic, advanced to the semi-finals at Wimbledon. Dodig and Marcel Granollers fell in the third round.
8. One Year Later: Andrej Martin of Slovakia is back in the main draw after falling to Fognini in the 2016 Umag final as the World No. 124. Martin has played just three tour-level matches since then, with his only win coming over Denis Kudla at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
9. Paire Plays On: Benoit Paire reached the Wimbledon fourth round and shows no signs of slowing down. The Frenchman is playing his 21st ATP World Tour or Grand Slam event of 2017 in Umag, taking only one week off. Paire did not play at Antalya or Eastbourne the week before Wimbledon.
10. Reunited: Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor are playing doubles together for the second time since 2012. They’ve won eight titles as a team, including Roland Garros in 2011 and 2012. Mirnyi and Nestor spent 18 straight weeks in 2012 tied at No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings.
10 THINGS TO WATCH IN BASTAD
1. Back on Clay: Headlining in Bastad are Estoril champion Pablo Carreno Busta, Monte-Carlo finalist Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Sao Paulo champion Pablo Cuevas.
2. Carreno Busta is Back: The top-seeded Carreno Busta reached the Roland Garros quarter-finals with the biggest win of his career, beating Milos Raonic 8-6 in the fifth set. However, he retired in the quarters against Rafael Nadal and missed the entire grass-court swing with a left abdominal muscle fracture. Carreno Busta is 20-8 on clay in 2017, including a run to the Rio de Janeiro final.
3. The Champ Returns: Ramos-Vinolas broke through for his first ATP World Tour title at the 2016 SkiStar Swedish Open. The Spaniard returned to a clay-court final in Monte-Carlo, where he defeated World No. 1 Andy Murray in the third round. Ramos-Vinolas is 21-11 on clay in 2017.
4. Feet of Clay: Like Carreno Busta, Cuevas did not play a match on grass this season, withdrawing from Wimbledon due to a right knee injury. The 2014 Bastad champion defeated Carreno Busta in the semi-finals and Ramos-Vinolas in the final to capture his third straight Sao Paulo title in March.
5. Big Names Abound: Five former Top 10 players are in Bastad, not including potential qualifiers. Two-time champion David Ferrer, two-time finalist Fernando Verdasco and Ernests Gulbis join two men making their Bastad debuts: No. 4 seed Richard Gasquet and 39-year-old Tommy Haas.
6. Ymers Take WCs: Swedish brothers Elias Ymer and Mikael Ymer have accepted singles wild cards along with Haas. They’ve already been on site for a week, with Elias reaching the quarter-finals and Mikael reaching the semi-finals at the Bastad Challenger.
The Ymers are also doubles wild cards. They saved a total of four match points en route to the doubles title at the 2016 If Stockholm Open.
7. Khachanov Keeps Improving: #NextGenATP star Karen Khachanov is 8-3 at his last three events. In between runs to the Roland Garros fourth round and Wimbledon third round, the 21 year old earned the biggest win of his career over Kei Nishikori en route to the Halle semi-finals.
8. Schwartzman Seeks Milestone: Diego Schwartzman’s next victory will be his 18th of the 2017 season, surpassing his previous career-high of 17 wins in 2016. The 5-foot-7 Argentine is appearing at his 11th clay-court tournament of the year, reaching the semi-finals at Istanbul and quarter-finals at Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Monte-Carlo.
9. Basilashvili Breaking Out: Nikoloz Basilashvili entered 2017 with 12 tour-level wins. The 25 year old has added 19 victories this season alone, highlighted by a run to his second ATP World Tour final at Memphis. Basilashvili beat Dominic Thiem for the biggest win of his career at Sofia.
10. Peralta/Zeballos Leads Doubles Field: Joining the Ymers in the doubles draw are South Americans Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos, who won their fourth team title at Houston in April.
10 THINGS TO WATCH IN NEWPORT
1. Size Matters: The three tallest players on the ATP World Tour lead the field at the Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open, which serves as the final grass-court tournament of the 2017 season. Six-foot-11 Ivo Karlovic is the defending Newport champion, 6-foot-11 Reilly Opelka is making his main draw tournament debut and 6-foot-10 John Isner won the title in 2011 and 2012.
2. Three Straight Finals: Karlovic saved three championship points to beat Gilles Muller in three tie-break sets and win the 2016 Newport title. The 38-year-old Croatian finished runner-up to Lleyton Hewitt in 2014 and Rajeev Ram in 2015, losing both of those finals in a third-set tiebreak.
3. Isner Seeded No. 1: Isner is making his eighth appearance in Newport and fifth as the top seed. He won the title in 2011 and 2012, then fell in the 2014 quarter-finals and 2015 first round, as the No. 1 seed. Isner made his ATP World Tour debut here 10 years ago, losing to Dick Norman.
4. Opelka on the Rise: When Opelka played qualifying last year in Newport, he was No. 833 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. The 2015 Wimbledon junior champion returns inside the Top 150 after earning his first three main draw wins en route to the Atlanta semi-finals last August (l. to Isner).
5. First Time for Everything: Opelka is one of nine players seeking his first grass-court win – not including the four men who qualify on Monday. NCAA champion Thai-Son Kwiatkowski will make his ATP debut as a wild card.
No. 7 seed Tennys Sandgren (0-3), Mitchell Krueger (0-1) and #NextGenATP players Akira Santillan (0-4) and Michael Mmoh (0-6) seek their first ATP win on any surface. Bidding for their first grass-court win are Opelka (0-0 on grass), Bjorn Fratangelo (0-1 on grass), Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (0-2 on grass) and Konstantin Kravchuk (0-3 on grass).
6. First-Round Byes: Isner, Karlovic, No. 3 seed Adrian Mannarino and No. 4 seed Pierre-Hugues Herbert receive byes. Mannarino is coming off a fourth-round run at Wimbledon. Herbert will be making his Newport debut. His regular doubles partner, Nicolas Mahut, won the title here in 2013.
7. Raj Returns: Isner isn’t the only two-time champion in the field. Ram won the Newport title in 2009 as the World No. 181 and 2015 as the World No. 161. He returns this week outside of the Top 200.
8. #NextGenATP in Newport: Five #NextGenATP players are in Newport, including Opelka, Santillan and Mmoh. They are joined by American teens Taylor Fritz and Stefan Kozlov. Fritz qualified at Wimbledon before falling to Isner in the first round. Kozlov debuted at 2013 Newport as a 15 year old and remains the youngest participant in an ATP match since Noam Behr, 14, at 1990 Tel Aviv.
9. By the Dozen: Twelve of the 24 men in the field before the conclusion of qualifying are American, including Denis Kudla, who defeated Grigor Dimitrov to reach the 2011 Newport quarter-finals.
10. First-Time Team: Ram and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi will debut as a doubles team. Ram, the 2009 Newport doubles champion, and Qureshi, the 2015 champion, have combined for five titles in 2017.
Jamie Murray is now a two-time Wimbledon champion. The 31-year-old Scot won his second title at the The Championships on Sunday, partnering with Switzerland’s Martina Hingis to capture the mixed doubles crown 6-4, 6-4 against defending champions Henri Kontinen of Finland and Heather Watson of Great Britain.
Top seeds Murray/Hingis broke three times to take the title in 71 minutes. They, like Roger Federer in the gentlemen’s singles draw, didn’t drop a set all tournament.
“I really enjoyed the whole week. It’s a great achievement. Any time you win a Grand Slam, get your name up on the board again, it’s there forever. No one will take it away from you,” Murray said.
The Brit won his first Wimbledon title 10 years ago, when he and Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic paired to win the 2007 mixed doubles title.
Hingis, 36, celebrated her sixth Wimbledon title – one singles, two mixed doubles and three doubles. She also congratulated her 35-year-old countryman on his eighth Wimbledon crown.
“It was a good day for us,” she said. “It’s amazing what he’s accomplished in singles. He’s only a year younger than me. I definitely admire that.”
Polish/Brazilian team to make team debut in London
Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo have become the first doubles team to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 12-19 November.
The Polish-Brazilian team secured their place as a result of lifting their first major doubles trophy at The Championships, Wimbledon, with a 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(2), 6-3, 13-11 victory over Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic. It was their third straight grass-court title (Ricoh Open and Gerry Weber Open) and their seventh tour-level doubles crown. Unbeaten on grass in 2017 with a 14-0 record, Kubot and Melo have a 33-9 match tally this year.
Melo has now qualified for the prestigious season finale for the fifth straight year (since 2013). Three years ago, the Brazilian advanced to the final in London with Ivan Dodig (l. to Bryans). Dodig, who partnered Marach in 2009 and 2010, also reached the 2014 semi-finals with Robert Lindstedt.
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Melo will begin his third stint (26 weeks) at No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings on Monday. He first became No. 1 on 2 November 2015 until 3 April 2016, then reached the summit again from 9 May to 5 June 2016.
Roger Federer claimed his eighth Wimbledon title, his 19th Grand Slam crown, with a victory over Marin Cilic on Sunday at the All England Club. Revered on the ATP World Tour and around the world, here is what social media had to say about the Swiss’ historic win.
#19 tastes great pic.twitter.com/3Hv3lM5Rk9
— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) July 16, 2017
Leo Messi, Michael Jordan, Roger Federer. The best I've seen.
— Gerard Piqué (@3gerardpique) July 16, 2017
A huge congratulations to @rogerfederer on an eighth Wimbledon”>@Wimbledon title! Wimbledon?src=hash”>#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/FUMpty9d9q
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) July 16, 2017
19??!! The king @rogerfederer !! pic.twitter.com/x3CUxdOjVJ
— Stanislas Wawrinka (@stanwawrinka) July 16, 2017
Slam Wimbledon 19 @rogerfederer ?? #sw19 #wimbledon #welldone
— Tomáš Berdych (@tomasberdych) July 16, 2017
Cada vez más grande @rogerfederer!!! ?
— Juan M. del Potro (@delpotrojuan) July 16, 2017
Congrats to the ? Roger Federer on another Wimbledon?src=hash”>#Wimbledon title! Unreal!
— Gordon Hayward (@gordonhayward) July 16, 2017
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
— John Isner (@JohnIsner) July 16, 2017
Time stands still and once again it's for @rogerfederer! Congratulations Champ ? #WimbledonFinal
— Leander Paes (@Leander) July 16, 2017
Huge congratulations to @rogerfederer on his historic achievement! 8️⃣??Well done to @cilic_marin too. A great Wimbledon”>@Wimbledon, one for the ages!
— Kevin Anderson (@KAndersonATP) July 16, 2017
Watch some of the quirkier moments from the final day of Wimbledon as Roger Federer becomes the first man to win eight men’s singles titles with victory over Marin Cilic.