Wimbledon, London: Novak Djokovic broke the eight year domination of Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal when he beat Nadal in four sets 6-4 6-1 1-6 6-3 to take the 2011 Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Singles Championship, Sunday 3 July. The Serb also moved to the top of the ATP rankings after an exceptional start to the year in which he lost only one match, to Roger Federer in the semi-finals of the French Open. The Swiss, currently number three in the rankings, lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarters. British hopes of winning the first men’s title since Fred Perry in 1936 were again dashed when Andy Murray fell to Nadal. London mayor Boris Johnson blames high UK taxes.
In the Ladies the tall blonde Czech Petra Kvitova beat the taller and blonder Maria Sharapova as the Russian was beaten 6-3 6-4 by her inability to serve, not to mention the powerful strokes of her opponent.
Wimbledon, London Roger Federer’s dream of a seventh Wimbledon title, and a 17th Grand Slam win disappeared as the French 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came back from two sets down to win 3-6 6-7 6-4 6-4 6-4, 29 June. It is the first time Federer has lost after having a two set lead. The big French star, who lives in Gingins in canton Vaud, came back in the third set as his booming service, powerful forehand drives and a newly developed single-handed backhand passing shot broke the Swiss star. In the other matches Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray went through to the semi-finals. Djokovic beat Australian teenager Bernard Tomic in four sets, 6-2 3-6 6-3 7-5. Nadal also needed four sets to get past American Mardy Fish 6-3 6-3 5-7 6-4. Andy Murray had an easier time as he cruised past Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-4 6-4. The semi-finals on Friday will feature Nadal v Murray and Djokovic v Tsonga.
WIMBLEDON, LONDON, ENGLAND Last year’s champion Serena Williams crashed out of Wimbledon, as did sister Venus in a dramatic day’s tennis. World number one Caroline Wozniacki also lost. The men’s event went more to form although Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer each dropped a set before going through to the quarter-finals. Serena Williams went down 6-3 7-6 to France’s Marion Bartoli while Venus fell 6-2 6-3 to Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.
Andy Murray swept past Richard Gasquet 7-6 6-3 6-2, Rafa Nadal saw off a determined challenge from Juan Martin Del Potro 7-6 3-6 7-6 6-4. Roger Federer started rather slowly and lost the first set tie-break to Mikhail Youzhny but then swept past the Russian, 6-7 6-3 6-3 6-3.
Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch.com) - Rafael Nadal won his second Wimbledon title Sunday 4 July, outplaying Tomas Berdych 6-3 7-5 6-4. The sets all went the same way as the Czech matched Nadal for a few games and then could not keep pace as the Spanish top seed accelerated at key points. Nadal now looks set to keep his top ATP ranking for some time. Novak Djokovic has moved into second place as Roger Federer slipped back to third.
Serena Williams took her fourth Wimbledon title as she crushed Vera Zvonareva with a brutal exhibition of power tennis.
International sports, Wimbledon tennis
Wimbledon, London (GenevaLunch) - Rafael Nadal, the world’s top player according to the ATP rankings, ended Andy Murray‘s hopes of becoming the first British player since 1938 to reach the Wimbledon final. Nadal won in three sets, 6-4 7-6 (8-6) 6-4. The match was closely contested but Nadal never seemed threatened and managed step up a level when it was really needed. The other semi-final saw Czech Tomas Berdych beat the number three seed, Serb Novak Djokovic, also in straight sets 6-3 7-6 (11-9) 6-3. Berdych always looked in control as the two fought it out from the baseline: the only time Djokovic came to life was in the second set tie-break when he survived four successive set points to level before surrendering the set with a double fault. Berdych now has the chance to beat the top three players in the world after beating Roger Federer in the quarter- finals.
The women’s final will feature Serena Williams against Vera Zvonareva.
International sports, Wimbledon tennis
Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch.com) – Roger Federer is out of Wimbledon, after losing to Czech player Tomas Berdych 6-4 3-6 6-1 6-4 Wednesday. The six-time Wimbledon winner did not make it to the semi-finals, just as he missed them at Roland Garros in Paris earlier in the season. Wimbledon, where he has made it to the final each of the last seven years and won six of those matches, has been seen as Federer territory until today.
Links to other sites: Guardian blog, UK, TSR (Fre), Wimbledon
International sports, Wimbledon tennis
Wimbledon, London (GenevaLunch) - The Wimbledon record for the longest ever match was smashed by almost five hours, and the match still isn’t over! American John Isner and French player Nicolas Mahut were deadlocked at 59-59 in the fifth set after more than ten hours of play when bad light stopped play. The match, which started on Tuesday, will continue on Thursday.
Roger Federer played a somewhat shorter match but was still forced to four sets by Ilija Bozoljac, a Serbian qualifier, before winning 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).
International sports, Wimbledon Tennis
Wimbledon, London (GenevaLunch) - Roger Federer’s attempt to win a seventh Wimbledon almost ended as he fought back from being two sets down against Alejandro Fella, the ATP 60th ranked Colombian clay court specialist. Fella played an aggressive game and quickly took a two set lead before Federer pulled back in the third. Fella refused to give up however and broke the Swiss star’s serve next game and looked like he would take the fourth set until Federer fought back from 0-40 to win the ninth game.The set went to a tie-break where Federer lost only one point. He then swept ahead to take the final set without loss, winning 5-7, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, 6-0.
Federer not a winner this year - Photo Gerry Weber World
Halle, Germany (GenevaLunch) - Roger Federer, who recently lost his top ATP ranking to Rafael Nadal, lost his first match for six years on the grass courts of Halle.
The German tournament has been the Swiss star’s preferred preparation for Wimbledon and he won the last five titles without losing a set. This time he lost to Leyton Hewitt 3-6 7-6 6-4 in his first loss to the Australian after 15 wins.
Most of the other players opted to compete at Queen’s in London, where Sam Querrey beat fellow American Mardy Fish 7-6 7-5 in the final. Earlier rounds had seen the departure of favourites like Rafa Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic.
Chinese player Li Na beat Maria Sharapova in the final of the women’s tournament at Birmingham.
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Roger Federer and Serena Williams have been named ITF tennis champions for 2009, Federer for the fifth time, Serena for the second time. Roger Federer regained his top seed ranking from Rafael Nadal and he surpassed Pete Sampras’ 15 career Grand Slam titles. Serena Williams won Wimbledon and the Australian Open for a total of 11 wins. She last won the award in 2002. They will receive the awards in Paris in June.
Flushing Meadows, New York (GenevaLunch) -The first round of the US Open resulted in a few scares, but no real upsets. Number one seed Roger Federer, in search of his sixth successive title in New York eased past 18 year-old American Devin Britton 6-1 6-3 7-5, dropping serve twice but coming back immediately each time. Andy Roddick, who lost an epic Wimbledon final against Federer this year beat Bjorn Phau 6-1 6-4 6-2.
Federer, who completed a career Grand Slam by winning the French Open in June and set a career record with his 15th Slam title at Wimbledon, became the first player to earn $50 million in career prize money with the victory.
Montreal, Canada (GenevaLunch) – Rafael Nadal had an easy time in his comeback match after a 10-week break to recover from injured knees. His opponent, fellow Spaniard David Ferrer retired hurt after only 36 minutes of the first set. Ferrer started with one knee strapped and twice called for the trainer before retiring while trailing 3-4. Andy Roddick, the fifth seed, beat Russian Igor Andreev 6-1 7-6 but was not happy with the slow courts and the change in the brand of balls used for the Rogers Cup.
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – What a year for the Roger Federer family, first the long-awaited big win at Wimbledon for the Swiss tennis champion and now future doubles champions warming up, with the arrival of twin daughters! Mirka Federer gave birth to the girls Thursday: Charlene Riva and Myla Rose are fine, the father says on his web site (so far, only in German).
The couple met in 2000 when both played at the Sydney Olympics. Mirka, who emigrated to Switzerland as a young girl, is 31 and Roger is 27.
Background: “Federer takes title in epic win”, 5 July 2009 GenevaLunch
Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch) – Swiss Roger Federer won an epic match against American Andy Roddick that went to 16-14 in the fifth set. Roddick only lost his service in the final game of the match, which lasted four hours and 16 minutes. The victory broke Pete Sampras’s record of 14 Grand Slam wins. Sampras was in the Royal Box along with other legends Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver, the only male to twice win all four Grand Slam titles in the same year.
Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch) – Swiss Roger Federer gave a lesson in how to deal with a big serving giant when he swept past Croation Ivo Karlovic in straight sets, 6-3 7-5 7-6, breaking serve twice with some superb returns of service and barely dropping a point when on serve himself.
Tommy Haas pulled off the shock of the day with a rarely seen display of serve and volley tennis that proved too much for fourth seed Novak Djokovic. His prize will be an encounter with Federerer.
Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch) - The women’s Wimbledon tennis semi-finals will feature Americans Venus and Serena Williams against two Russians: Dinara Safina and Elena Dementiava.
Wimbledon, England (GenevaLunch) - Andy Murray fought his way past Swiss number two Stanislav Wawrinski in a five-set thriller that lasted more than four hours, taking advantage of the new retractable roof that allowed play to continue until the finish at 22:39.
Wimbledon, UK (GenevaLunch) - Wimbledon had a day off for the “middle Sunday” and has not yet had to test the new roof after an unusual absence of rain. In the mens’ draw the dream final of Roger Federer, in search of a record 15th Grand Slam title, against Andy Murray in search of his first, is looking likely.
London, England (GenevaLunch) – Wimbledon Champion Rafa Nadal announced that he will not be defending his title because of tendinitis in both knees. The decision was made after he lost two warm-up matches against Leyton Hewitt and Stanislav Wawrinka, and was clearly suffering against both players.
London, England (GenevaLunch) – Andy Murray became the first British player since Bunny Austin in 1938 to win at the Queen’s club championship tournament in London. The tournament is one of the traditional warm-up tournaments before Wimbledon, allowing players to make the transition from the clay courts of Paris to grass. Murray has been in excellent form all week, not losing a single set and disposed of James Blake 7-5 6-4.
The frustration of seeing tennis matches begin and then stop due to rain at Wimbledon in England should be a thing of the past, with a new retractable roof fitted with floodlights ready for Centre Court action 22 June. Local officials have given the go-ahead for Wimbledon games to be played as late as necessary. Short delays could still be part of the game, since it takes 8-10 minutes to close the top and another 30 for the air system to ensure the grass is dry enough for play, reports AFP.
