2018 Wimbledon – Day 11 Men’s Preview

2018 WIMBLEDON

DAY 11 MEN’S NOTES

Friday 13 July

Semifinals

No. 2 Rafael Nadal (ESP) v No. 12 Novak Djokovic (SRB)

No. 8 Kevin Anderson (RSA) v No. 9 John Isner (USA)

A quick look at the semifinalists…

Player	Country	Age	ATP Rank	Best Wimbledon Performance	Best Grand Slam Performance	Grass Court Titles
(2) Rafael Nadal	ESP	32	1	W 08, 10	17 titles	4
(8) Kevin Anderson	RSA	32	8	SF 18	RU US Open 17	0
(9) John Isner	USA	33	10	SF 18	SF Wimbledon 18	3
(12) Novak Djokovic	SRB	31	21	W 11, 14-15	12 titles	4

2 seed Rafael Nadal faces a familiar foe in the day’s 2nd semifinal, with No. 12 seed Novak Djokovic bidding to deny the Roland Garros champion a chance to win back-to-back titles in Paris and London for a 3rd time in his career. Theirs is the most-contested rivalry in the Open Era – this will be the pair’s 52nd Tour-level meeting. Djokovic has the slight edge at Tour-level overall (26-25), but Nadal ended a 7-match losing streak against the Serb at Madrid-1000 last year and also won their only meeting so far in 2018 – in the semifinals at Rome-1000. Both men are each other’s least-favourite opponent at the majors – Nadal’s tally of 9 Grand Slam match-wins against Djokovic at the majors is the most that anyone has managed against the Serb, but Djokovic has also defeated Nadal at the Grand Slams more often than anybody else, with 4 victories against the Mallorcan at the majors.

The day’s first semifinal sees the No. 8 seed face the No. 9 seed, as Kevin Anderson takes on John Isner. With both make their 10th appearances this year, the winner of today’s match will go 2nd on the Open Era list for most attempts before reaching the Wimbledon final behind Marin Cilic, who set the record here last year after reaching the final on his 11th Wimbledon appearance. Anderson comes into the match after becoming just the 5th player to defeat Roger Federer from 0-2 down – and, having been the first man to break the Federer serve at Wimbledon in 2018, he could also become the first man to break the Isner serve here this year too. The big American has won 95 consecutive service games here so far, and also leads the aces count, having served 160 aces in his opening 5 matches at SW19.

All 4 semifinalists here are aged 30 or over – the first time in the Open Era that the men’s singles semifinals at a Grand Slam have been contested exclusively by a quartet of 30-somethings. Anderson and Isner have both recorded their best Grand Slam results – Anderson by reaching the final at the 2017 US Open and Isner here this fortnight – since turning 30. Meanwhile Nadal is through to a Grand Slam semifinal for the 5th time since turning 30 and Djokovic has reached the last 4 at a major for the first time since his 30th birthday.

With 2 Europeans joined in the semifinals here by a North American man and an African man, this is the first time that 3 continents have been represented in the men’s singles semifinals at Wimbledon since 2005, when Switzerland’s Federer and Sweden’s Thomas Johansson were joined by the American-Australian duo of Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt. It is the 2nd time in the last 4 Grand Slam events that 3 continents have been represented in the men’s singles semifinals – after Anderson, Nadal, Pablo Carreno Busta and Juan Martin del Potro contested the semifinals at the US Open last year.

2 RAFAEL NADAL (ESP) v NO. 12 NOVAK DJOKOVIC (SRB)

Head-to-head: Djokovic leads 26-25

2006 Roland Garros Clay (O) QF Nadal 64 64 ret. (lower back)

2007 AMS Indian Wells Hard (O) FR Nadal 62 75

2007 AMS Miami Hard (O) QF Djokovic 63 64

2007 AMS Rome Clay (O) QF Nadal 62 63

2007 Roland Garros Clay (O) SF Nadal 75 64 62

2007 Wimbledon Grass (O) SF Nadal 36 61 4-1 ret. (infected toe blister)

2007 AMS Montreal Hard (O) SF Djokovic 75 63

2007 TMC Shanghai Hard (I) RR Nadal 64 64

2008 AMS Indian Wells Hard (O) SF Djokovic 63 62

2008 AMS Hamburg Clay (O) SF Nadal 75 26 62

2008 Roland Garros Clay (O) SF Nadal 64 62 76(3)

2008 Queen’s Grass (O) FR Nadal 76(6) 75

2008 AMS Cincinnati Hard (O) SF Djokovic 61 75

2008 Beijing Olympics Hard (O) SF Nadal 64 16 64

2009 Davis Cup (WG-1R) Clay (O) R4 Nadal 64 64 61

2009 Monte Carlo-1000 Clay (O) FR Nadal 63 26 61

2009 Rome-1000 Clay (O) FR Nadal 76(2) 62

2009 Madrid-1000 Clay (O) SF Nadal 36 76(5) 76(9)

2009 Cincinnati-1000 Hard (O) SF Djokovic 61 64

2009 Paris-1000 Hard (I) SF Djokovic 62 63

2009 ATP World Tour Finals Hard (I) RR Djokovic 76(5) 63

2010 US Open Hard (O) FR Nadal 64 57 64 62

2010 ATP World Tour Finals Hard (I) RR Nadal 75 62

2011 Indian Wells-1000 Hard (O) FR Djokovic 46 63 62

2011 Miami-1000 Hard (O) FR Djokovic 46 63 76(4)

2011 Madrid-1000 Clay (O) FR Djokovic 75 64

2011 Rome-1000 Clay (O) FR Djokovic 64 64

2011 Wimbledon Grass (O) FR Djokovic 64 61 16 63

2011 US Open Hard (O) FR Djokovic 62 64 67(3) 61

2012 Australian Open Hard (O) FR Djokovic 57 64 62 67(5) 75

2012 Monte Carlo-1000 Clay (O) FR Nadal 63 61

2012 Rome-1000 Clay (O) FR Nadal 75 63

2012 Roland Garros Clay (O) FR Nadal 64 63 26 75

2013 Monte Carlo-1000 Clay (O) FR Djokovic 62 76(1)

2013 Roland Garros Clay (O) SF Nadal 64 36 61 67(3) 97

2013 Montreal-1000 Hard (O) SF Nadal 64 36 76(2)

2013 US Open Hard (O) FR Nadal 62 36 64 61

2013 Beijing Hard (O) FR Djokovic 63 64

2013 ATP World Tour Finals Hard (I) FR Djokovic 63 64

2014 Miami-1000 Hard (O) FR Djokovic 63 63

2014 Rome-1000 Clay (O) FR Djokovic 46 63 63

2014 Roland Garros Clay (O) FR Nadal 36 75 62 64

2015 Monte Carlo-1000 Clay (O) SF Djokovic 63 63

2015 Roland Garros Clay (O) QF Djokovic 75 63 61

2015 Beijing Hard (O) FR Djokovic 62 62

2015 ATP World Tour Finals Hard (I) SF Djokovic 63 63

2016 Doha Hard (O) FR Djokovic 61 62

2016 Indian Wells-1000 Hard (O) SF Djokovic 76(5) 62

2016 Rome-1000 Clay (O) QF Djokovic 75 76(4)

2017 Madrid-1000 Clay (O) SF Nadal 62 64

2018 Rome-1000 Clay (O) SF Nadal 76(4) 63

A 52nd Tour-level meeting for Nadal and Djokovic – the pair hold the record for most Tour-level match-ups in the Open Era. (see table overleaf)

Most Tour-level match-ups (Open Era)

Players	No. of Tour-level match-ups	Win-loss
Novak Djokovic v Rafael Nadal	52*	Djokovic leads 26-25
Novak Djokovic v Roger Federer	45	Djokovic leads 23-22
Roger Federer v Rafael Nadal	38	Nadal leads 23-15
Jimmy Connors v Ivan Lendl Novak Djokovic v Andy Murray Ivan Lendl v John McEnroe	36 36 36	Connors leads 23-13 Djokovic leads 25-11 Lendl leads 21-15

*including today’s match

This is the pair’s 14th Grand Slam meeting – they are 2nd on the list for most Grand Slam match-ups in the Open Era.

Most Grand Slam match-ups (Open Era)

Players	No. of Grand Slam match-ups	Win-loss
Novak Djokovic v Roger Federer	15	Djokovic leads 9-6
Novak Djokovic v Rafael Nadal	14*	Nadal leads 9-4
Roger Federer v Rafael Nadal	12	Nadal leads 9-3
Tomas Berdych v Roger Federer Novak Djokovic v Andy Murray Ivan Lendl v John McEnroe	10 10 10	Federer leads 8-2 Djokovic leads 8-2 Lendl leads 7-3

*including today’s match

This is the 5th Grand Slam semifinal that the pair have contested, with Nadal having won all 4 previous encounters in the last 4 at major – at Roland Garros in 2007, 2008 and 2013, and at Wimbledon in 2007, when Djokovic retired due to an infected toe blister.

Aside from their meetings in the round robin stage at the 2007 Tennis Masters Cup and the ATP World Tour Finals in 2009 and 2010, and their meeting in the 4th rubber of Spain’s 2009 Davis Cup World Group first round victory against Serbia, all of the pair’s meetings have been at the quarterfinal stage of a tournament or later.

Nadal lost all 7 of the pair’s meetings during 2015-16, but ended that losing streak with a straight sets victory against Djokovic in the semifinals at Madrid-1000 and also won their only meeting since then in the semifinals at Rome-1000 this year.

It is their 3rd meeting at Wimbledon – but their first since 2011, when Djokovic defeated Nadal in 4 sets in the final. Nadal won their first meeting here in the 2007 semifinal. Nadal leads their grass court head-to-head 2-1, having also won when the pair contested the final at 2008 Queen’s.

With 9 Grand Slam victories against Djokovic, Nadal is the player who has defeated Djokovic most often at the Grand Slams. Similarly, with 4 Grand Slam victories against Nadal, Djokovic is the player who has defeated Nadal most often at the Grand Slams.

Most Grand Slam match-wins against Nadal Most Grand Slam match-wins against Djokovic

Player	No. of wins	Player	No. of wins
Novak Djokovic	4	Rafael Nadal	9
Roger Federer	3	Roger Federer	6
David Ferrer	2	Stan Wawrinka	3
Lleyton Hewitt Gilles Muller Andy Murray	2 2 2	Tomas Berdych Andy Murray Marat Safin	2 2 2

Nadal and Djokovic are both looking to climb the list for most Wimbledon finals reached in the Open Era. Nadal, who is bidding to reach his 6th final here, will move into joint-4th place if he wins today, while Djokovic will move alongside Nadal and John McEnroe in joint-6th place if he wins he wins today and reaches his 5th final here. (see table overleaf)

Most Wimbledon final appearances (Open Era)

Player

No. of appearances

Roger Federer

Boris Becker

Pete Sampras

Jimmy Connors

Bjorn Borg

John McEnroe

Rafael Nadal

Novak Djokovic

Goran Ivanisevic

The pair are also looking to climb the list for most Grand Slam finals reached in history. Nadal currently occupies 2nd place on the list, with Djokovic a place below in 3rd.

Most Grand Slam final appearances (all time)

Player	No. of appearances
Roger Federer	30
Rafael Nadal	24
Novak Djokovic	21
Ivan Lendl	19
Pete Sampras	18

Nadal (aged 32 years 42 days) and Djokovic (aged 31 years 54 days) are the youngest men remaining in the draw here. Since turning 30, Nadal has reached 5 Grand Slam semifinals, while Djokovic is through to his first Grand Slam semifinal since his 30th birthday. With John Isner (33 years 80 days) and Kevin Anderson (32 years 58 days) also through to the last 4, this is the first time in the Open Era that all 4 semifinalists at a major have all been aged 30 or over.

Nadal and Djokovic are also the only 2 Grand Slam champions remaining from the 6 that started the men’s main draw here. Nadal is bidding for his 18th major title here, while Djokovic is aiming for his 13th Grand Slam here.

Possible final head-to-heads

	Anderson	Isner
Nadal	5-0	7-0
Djokovic	5-1	8-2

NADAL v DJOKOVIC

32 Age 31

1 ATP Ranking 21

79 Titles 68

242-34 Career Grand Slam Record 249-41

48-10 Wimbledon Record 63-10

908-187 Career Record 806-172

66-18 Career Record – Grass 86-18

35-2 2018 Record 23-9

5-0 2018 Record – Grass 9-1

20-11 Career Five-Set Record 28-9

3 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 4

220-141 Career Tiebreak Record 223-132

5-2 2018 Tiebreak Record 5-8

Road to the Semifinals

NADAL	Time		Time	DJOKOVIC
d. Dudi Sela 63 63 62 d. Mikhail Kukushkin 64 63 64	1:50 2:23	1st round 2nd round	1:33 1:31	d. Tennys Sandgren 63 61 62 d. Horacio Zeballos 61 62 63
d. Alex de Minaur 61 62 64	2:02	3rd round	2:54	d. No. 21 Kyle Edmund 46 63 62 64
d. Jiri Vesely 63 63 64	1:53	Round of 16	1:46	d. Karen Khachanov 64 62 62
d. No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro 75 67(7) 46 64 64	4:48	Quarterfinals	2:35	d. No. 24 Kei Nishikori 63 36 62 62

total time on court	12:56	(IBM time)	10:19	total time on court

Two-time Wimbledon champion NADAL is bidding to reach his 6th Wimbledon final – and his first since he finished runner-up here in 2011.

Nadal is also bidding to reach his 25th Grand Slam final and close the gap on Roger Federer, who has reached 30 Grand Slam finals, at the top of the all-time list for most Grand Slam finals reached.

Wimbledon is Nadal’s least successful Grand Slam event in terms of matches won and his 3rd-most successful Grand Slam in terms of titles won – but it is his 2nd-most successful Grand Slam in terms of finals reached.

Grand Slam	Titles won	Win-loss record	Finals reached
Australian Open	1	55-12	4
Roland Garros	11	86-2	11
Wimbledon	2	48-10	*6??*
US Open	3	53-10	4

Nadal is bidding to record his 36th Tour-level match-win of 2018 and equal Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev at the top of the list for most Tour-level match-wins this year.

2018 Tour-level match-wins

Player	Win-loss
Dominic Thiem Alexander Zverev	36-11 36-11
Rafael Nadal	35-2
Juan Martin del Potro	32-8
Roger Federer	29-4

Nadal’s 5-set victory against Juan Martin del Potro in the quarterfinals ended his 3-match losing streak in 5-set matches. He had previously not won a 5-set match since defeating Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinals at the 2017 Australian Open. He has a 7-3 win-loss record in 5-set matches at Wimbledon and a 20-11 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.

Nadal has never lost a semifinal at Wimbledon. He has a 24-3 win-loss record in Grand Slam semifinals overall and has not lost in the last 4 at a major since falling to Del Potro at the 2009 US Open.

Nadal’s Wimbledon semifinal appearances

Year	Opponent	Result	Result in final
2006	Marcos Baghdatis	Won 61 75 63	l. Roger Federer 60 76(5) 67(2) 63
2007	Novak Djokovic	Won 36 61 4-1 ret.	l. Roger Federer 76(7) 46 76(3) 26 62
2008	Rainer Schuettler	Won 61 76(3) 64	d. Roger Federer 64 64 67(5) 67(8) 97
2010	Andy Murray	Won 64 76(6) 64	d. Tomas Berdych 63 75 64
2011	Andy Murray	Won 57 62 62 64	l. Novak Djokovic 64 61 16 63
2018	Novak Djokovic	??	??

By reaching his 28th Grand Slam semifinal, Nadal has equalled Ivan Lendl in 5th place on the list for most Grand Slam semifinal appearances in the Open Era. Roger Federer (43), today’s opponent (32) and Jimmy Connors are the only men in the Open Era to have reached more Grand Slam semifinals.

By reaching his 6th Wimbledon semifinal, Nadal has moved into joint-9th place on the list for most Wimbledon semifinal appearances in the Open Era, alongside Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg and Goran Ivanisevic.

Last year here, Nadal reached the round of 16 where he lost to Gilles Muller 63 64 36 46 15-13. This is his 13th appearance at Wimbledon and his 53rd Grand Slam overall.

Nadal is bidding to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year for the 3rd time and equal Borg’s all-time record of 3 back-to-back titles in Paris and London. Borg achieved the feat in 3 consecutive years (1978-80), while Nadal won Roland Garros and Wimbledon back-to-back in 2008 and 2010. (see Preview page 2)

Nadal is looking to win his 18th Grand Slam title and close the gap on Federer (20 major titles) at the top of the all-time list for most Grand Slam men’s singles titles.

Nadal is a 2-time Wimbledon champion. He defeated Federer to win his first Wimbledon title in 2008 and won the title for a 2nd time in 2010 (d. Tomas Berdych). He also reached the final here in 2006-07, losing to Federer on both occasions, and 2011 (l. today’s opponent).

Since finishing runner-up here in 2011, Nadal has lost to players ranked No. 100 or lower on 4 of his 5 appearances at Wimbledon – to No. 100 Lukas Rosol in 2012, No. 135 Steve Darcis in 2013, No. 144 Kyrgios in 2014 and No. 102 Dustin Brown in 2015.

At 2018 Roland Garros, Nadal became the 2nd player in history to win 11 titles at any Grand Slam event, defeating Dominic Thiem in straight sets in the final. Margaret Court is the only other player in history to have won 11 titles at one Grand Slam event, winning the Australian title on 11 occasions between 1960 and 1973.

Elsewhere in Grand Slam play this year, Nadal reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, where he retired in the 5th set of his match with Marin Cilic due to a right leg injury.

Prior to coming here Nadal withdrew from Queen’s in order to recover after the clay court season. It is the 2nd consecutive year that he has not played a grass court warm-up event before Wimbledon.

Nadal became the first player in the Open Era to win 11 Tour-level titles at 3 different events by winning his 11th titles at both Monte Carlo-1000 (d. Kei Nishikori) and Barcelona (d. Stefanos Tsitsipas) earlier this year alongside his 11th title at Roland Garros.

Also in 2018, Nadal won the title at Rome-1000 (d. Alexander Zverev) and reached the quarterfinals at Madrid-1000 (l. Thiem). With 4 Tour-level titles in 2018, he is top of the list for most Tour-level titles won this year.

By reaching the round of 16 here Nadal ensured that he will remain at No. 1 when the new rankings are published on Monday. He returned to world No. 1 for the first time since July 2014 in August last year. Since then, he has remained at No. 1 for all but 6 weeks, when he was overtaken by Federer. He dropped to No. 2 after Federer won the title at Stuttgart, but returned to No. 1 after Federer failed to retain his title at Halle.

4 of Nadal’s 79 career titles have come on grass – in addition to his 2 Wimbledon titles, he also lifted the trophy at 2008 Queen’s (d. today’s opponent) and 2015 Stuttgart (d. Viktor Troicki).

Nadal has played Davis Cup for Spain since 2004. He has a 24-1 win-loss record in Davis Cup singles rubbers and won both of the rubbers he contested in Spain’s World Group quarterfinal victory against Germany this year. Spain will play France in the semifinals in Lille on 14-16 September.

Nadal is coached by Carlos Moya, who reached the round of 16 here in 2004, and Toni Nadal.

Three time Wimbledon champion DJOKOVIC is bidding to record his 250th Grand Slam match-win today. He is in 2nd place on the all-time list for most Grand Slam match-wins, behind Roger Federer (336 Grand Slam match-wins).

Djokovic is bidding to record his 64th Wimbledon match-win today and claim sole ownership of 4th place on the list for most Wimbledon match-wins in the Open Era, ahead of Pete Sampras.

Most matches won at Wimbledon (Open Era)

Rank	Player	Wimbledon win-loss
1.	Roger Federer	95-12
2.	Jimmy Connors	84-18
3.	Boris Becker	71-12
4=	Novak Djokovic Pete Sampras	63-10 63-7

Djokovic is also bidding to record his 807th Tour-level match-win and claim sole ownership of 8th place on the list for most Tour-level match-wins in history, ahead of Stefan Edberg. Only Federer (1161 Tour-level match-wins), Jimmy Connors (1156), Ivan Lendl (1069), Guillermo Vilas (940), today’s opponent (908), John McEnroe (881) and Andre Agassi (870) have recorded more Tour-level match-wins.

Djokovic has a 4-3 win-loss record in Wimbledon semifinals. He has 21-10 win-loss record in Grand Slam semifinals overall and has won his last 7 major semifinals – his last defeat in a Grand Slam semifinal came against Kei Nishikori at the 2014 US Open. (see table overleaf)

Djokovic’s Wimbledon semifinal appearances

Year	Opponent	Result	Result in final
2007	Rafael Nadal	Lost 36 61 4-1 ret.	n/a
2010	Tomas Berdych	Lost 63 76(9) 63	n/a
2011	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	Won 76(4) 62 67(9) 63	d. Rafael Nadal 64 61 16 63
2012	Roger Federer	Lost 63 36 64 63	n/a
2013	Juan Martin del Potro	Won 75 46 76(2) 67(6) 63	l. Andy Murray 64 75 64
2014	Grigor Dimitrov	Won 64 36 76(2) 76(7)	d. Roger Federer 67(7) 64 76(4) 57 64
2015	Richard Gasquet	Won 76(2) 64 64	d. Roger Federer 76(1) 67(10) 64 63
2018	Rafael Nadal	??	??

Djokovic is bidding to become the first No. 12 seed to reach a Grand Slam final since Tomas Berdych finished runner-up here in 2010. In total, 8 No. 12 seeds have reached the final at a major in the Open Era and 3 have gone on to win the title – Sampras at the 1990 US Open, Agassi at 1992 Wimbledon and Carlos Moya at 1998 Roland Garros.

Ranked No. 21, Djokovic is bidding to become the lowest-ranked man to reach the Wimbledon final since No. 48 Mark Philippoussis finished runner-up here in 2003.

If he wins today, Djokovic is projected to rise to at least No. 11 when the new rankings are released on Monday. He will re-enter the Top 10, at No. 9, if he wins the title here. By reaching the semifinals, he has ensured that he will rise to at least No. 13 in next week’s rankings.

Djokovic dropped out of the Top 20 for the first time in more than 11 years earlier this year, dropping to No. 22 – his lowest ranking since October 2006 – in May. He plays here at No. 21.

Djokovic is bidding to reach his 22nd Grand Slam final – and his first since he finished runner-up to Stan Wawrinka at the 2016 US Open. He is in 3rd place on the Open Era list for most Grand Slam final appearances, behind Federer (30) and today’s opponent (24).

Djokovic is also bidding to reach his 5th Wimbledon final and equal McEnroe and today’s opponent in joint-6th place on the Open Era list for most Wimbledon final appearances. It would be his first Wimbledon final since he won back-to-back titles here in 2014-15.

Djokovic is one of just 2 men, along with Federer, to have recorded 60 match-wins at all 4 Grand Slam events. Wimbledon is his joint-most successful Grand Slam event in terms of matches won and his 2nd-most successful in terms of titles won, but his joint-least successful Grand Slam in terms of finals reached.

Grand Slam	Titles won	Win-loss record	Finals reached
Australian Open	6	61-8	6
Roland Garros	1	63-13	4
Wimbledon	3	63-10	*5??*
US Open	2	62-10	7

By reaching his 8th Wimbledon semifinal, Djokovic has equalled McEnroe and Sampras in joint-4th place on the list for the most Wimbledon semifinal appearances in the Open Era. Federer (12), Connors (11) and Boris Becker (9) are the only men in the Open Era to have reached the last 4 here more often.

By reaching his 32nd Grand Slam semifinal, Djokovic has taken sole ownership of 2nd place on the list for the most Grand Slam semifinal appearances in the Open Era, ahead of Connors. Federer, who has reached the last 4 at a major on 43 occasions, is the only man in the Open Era to have reached the semifinals at a Grand Slam more often.

Last year here, Djokovic reached the quarterfinals, where he retired with a right elbow injury while trailing Berdych 76(2) 2-0. This is his 14th consecutive appearance at Wimbledon and his 54th Grand Slam overall.

Djokovic is bidding to win his 4th Wimbledon title and move into joint-6th place on the list for most Wimbledon titles won in history (see Preview page 3). He defeated today’s opponent to win his first Wimbledon title in 2011, and won back-to-back titles in 2014-15, defeating Federer in the final on both occasions. He also reached the final here in 2013 (l. Andy Murray).

Djokovic is looking to win his 13th Grand Slam title and take sole ownership of 4th place on the all-time list of Grand Slam men’s singles title winners. He is currently tied with Roy Emerson on 12 major titles, behind Federer (20), today’s opponent (17) and Sampras (14). (see Preview page 3)

In Grand Slam play in 2018, Djokovic reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros (l. Marco Cecchinato) and the round of 16 at the Australian Open (l. Hyeon Chung).

Djokovic warmed up for Wimbledon by reaching the final at Queen’s, where he fell to Marin Cilic in 3 sets despite holding a match point in the 2nd set. It was just the 2nd time since 2010, when he last appeared at Queen’s, that he had contested a grass court warm up event prior to Wimbledon – he also competed at Eastbourne in 2017, where he won his 4th career grass court title (d. Gael Monfils).

Elsewhere in 2018, Djokovic reached the semifinals at Rome-1000 (l. today’s opponent) and the 3rd round at Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Dominic Thiem). It is the first season that he has failed to win a Tour-level title prior to Wimbledon since 2006.

Djokovic has won 8 of his last 9 five-set matches. He has a 7-1 win-loss record in 5-set matches at Wimbledon, with his only defeat coming against Ancic in 2006, and has a 28-9 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.

Djokovic has played Davis Cup for Serbia since 2004 and has a 34-10 overall win-loss record in the competition. Serbia will play India in the World Group play-offs in Kraljevo on 14-16 September.

Djokovic reunited with former coach Marian Vajda ahead of the 2018 clay court season.

8 KEVIN ANDERSON (RSA) v NO. 9 JOHN ISNER (USA)

Tour-level head-to-head: Isner leads 8-3

2008 Las Vegas Hard (O) R16 Anderson 76(2) 75

2008 Queen’s Grass (O) R64 Isner 76(5) 64

2010 Indian Wells-1000 Hard (O) R64 Isner 63 75

2010 Atlanta Hard (O) SF Isner 63 67(7) 63

2011 Miami-1000 Hard (O) R16 Anderson 63 76(4)

2012 Delray Beach Hard (O) SF Anderson 75 76(4)

2012 Shanghai-1000 Hard (O) R32 Isner 76(3) 67(8) 76(7)

2013 Hopman Cup Hard (I) R2 Anderson 76(0) 76(5)

2013 Delray Beach Hard (O) QF Isner 62 76(1)

2013 Atlanta Hard (O) FR Isner 67(3) 76(2) 76(2)

2014 Cincinnati-1000 Hard (O) R64 Isner 63 64

2015 Indian Wells-1000 Hard (O) R32 Isner 76(6) 62

A 12th Tour-level meeting for the pair but their first at a Grand Slam. It is their first meeting on grass in 10 years, with Isner having won their only previous meeting on the surface at 2008 Queen’s in straight sets. Anderson is bidding to end a 5-match Tour-level losing streak against Isner, having not defeated him at Tour-level for more than 6 years.

The winner of today’s match will go 2nd on the Open Era list for most attempts before reaching the final at Wimbledon. Both Anderson and Isner are making their 10th Wimbledon appearance this year.

Most attempts before reaching Wimbledon final (Open Era)

Player	No. of attempts
Marin Cilic	11
*Kevin Anderson??* *John Isner??*	*10??* *10??*
Pat Rafter	8
Tomas Berdych Novak Djokovic Ivan Lendl Chris Lewis Andy Murray Mark Philippoussis Cedric Pioline Roscoe Tanner MaliVai Washington	7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

By reaching the semifinals here for the first time on their 10th Wimbledon appearances, both players are in joint-4th place on the Open Era list for most attempts before reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon, alongside Sam Querrey and Rainer Schuettler. Only Jonas Bjorkman (13 attempts), Marin Cilic and Tommy Haas (both 11) made more appearances here before reaching the last 4.

Isner and Anderson are in 1st and 2nd place, respectively, for most tie-breaks won at Tour-level in 2018.

Most Tour-level tie-breaks won in 2018

Rank	Player	Tie-break win-loss
1.	John Isner	23-19
2.	Kevin Anderson	20-11
3.	Marin Cilic	16-10
4=	Ivo Karlovic Karen Khachanov Gilles Simon	15-20 15-11 15-12

Isner and Anderson are in 1st and 3rd place, respectively, for most aces served at this year’s Wimbledon, and the 2 leading ace servers remaining in the men’s singles. Isner has served 160 aces here so far, while Anderson has served 124 aces.

Anderson (32 years 58 days) and Isner (33 years 80 days) are the oldest men remaining in the men’s singles draw here. Both have recorded their best Grand Slam performances after turning 30 – Anderson by reaching the final at the 2017 US Open, and Isner by reaching his first Grand Slam semifinal here this fortnight. With Rafael Nadal (32 years 42 days) and Novak Djokovic (31 years 54 days) also through to the last 4 here, this is the first time in the Open Era that all 4 semifinalists at a major have all been aged 30 or over.

Possible final head-to-heads

	Nadal	Djokovic
Anderson	0-5	1-5
Isner	0-7	2-8

ANDERSON v ISNER

32 Age 33

8 ATP Ranking 10

4 Titles 13

64-36 Career Grand Slam Record 69-40

17-9 Wimbledon Record 15-9

299-211 Career Record 380-231

35-24 Career Record – Grass 44-22

28-10 2018 Record 21-11

5-1 2018 Record – Grass 5-0

11-10 Career Five-Set Record 9-17

3 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 2

175-147 Career Tiebreak Record 379-235

20-11 2018 Tiebreak Record 23-19

Road to the Semifinals

ANDERSON	Time		Time	ISNER
d. (Q) Norbert Gombos 63 64 64 d. Andreas Seppi 63 67(5) 63 64	1:56 2:39	1st round 2nd round	2:05 3:46	d. (Q) Yannick Maden 62 76(4) 75 d. (Q) Ruben Bemelmans 61 64 67(6) 67(3) 75
d. No. 25 Philipp Kohlschreiber 63 75 75	2:07	3rd round	1:36	d. Radu Albot 63 63 64
d. Gael Monfils 76(4) 76(2) 57 76(4) d. No. 1 Roger Federer 26 67(5) 75 64 13-11	3:29 4:14	Round of 16 Quarterfinals	2:06 2:42	d. No. 31 Stefanos Tsitsipas 64 76 (8) 76(4) d. No. 13 Milos Raonic 67(5) 76(7) 64 63

total time on court	14:25	(IBM time)	12:15	total time on court

ANDERSON is bidding to record his 300th Tour-level match-win today.

Anderson is bidding to reach his 2nd Grand Slam final and equal his best Grand Slam result. He reached his first major final at the 2017 US Open, losing to Rafael Nadal in 3 sets. He was the first South African in a Grand Slam singles final since Curren at the 1984 Australian Open and the oldest first-time finalist at a major since Niki Pilic at 1973 Roland Garros. At No. 32, he was also the lowest-ranked Grand Slam finalist since No. 38 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the 2008 Australian Open. This is his 37th appearance at a major.

Anderson is bidding to become the first South African man to reach the Wimbledon final since Brian Norton in 1921.

Anderson is also bidding to become the 2nd South African man in history to reach multiple Grand Slam finals, after Eric Sturgess.

South African men in Grand Slam finals (all-time)

Player	Grand Slam finals reached
Eric Sturgess	3 (1947, 1951 Roland Garros; 1948 US Championships)
Kevin Anderson	*2??* (2017 US Open; 2018 Wimbledon??)
Kevin Curren	1* (1984 Australian Open)
Cliff Drysdale	1 (1965 US Championships)
Johan Kriek	1* (1981 Australian Open)
Brian Norton	1 (1921 Wimbledon)
Ian Vermaak	1 (1959 Roland Garros)

*Curren and Kriek both reached further Grand Slam finals while representing USA

Anderson is bidding to become the 3rd African man in history to reach multiple Grand Slam finals, after South African Sturgess, who reached the final at Roland Garros in 1947 and 1951 and at the 1948 US Championships, and Jaroslav Drobny, who represented Egypt when he reached the final at Roland Garros in 1950-52 and at Wimbledon in 1952 and 1954. He would also become the 3rd African man, after Norton and Drobny, to reach the Wimbledon final.

Anderson is also bidding to become the 11th man in the Open Era to reach multiple Grand Slam finals after turning 30. Rafael Nadal is the most recent man to achieve the feat, reaching his 2nd major final after his 30th birthday at 2017 Roland Garros.

If he wins today, Anderson is projected to break the world’s Top 5 for the first time when the new rankings are released on Monday. He will rise to No. 5 if he finishes runner-up here and to No. 4 if he wins the title. By reaching the semifinals, he has ensured that he will rise to at least No. 7 – equalling his career-high ranking – in next week’s rankings.

Anderson is bidding to become the 3rd No. 8 seed to reach the Wimbledon final in the Open Era, after Kevin Curren finished runner-up here in 1985 and Goran Ivanisevic finished runner-up here in 1992. He would be the 8th No. 9 seed to reach a Grand Slam final in the Open Era.

By recovering from 0-2 down to defeat No. 1 seed Roger Federer in 5 sets in his 100th Grand Slam match in the quarterfinals, Anderson has become just the 5th man to recover from 0-2 down to defeat Federer in 5 sets.

Players to defeat Roger Federer from 0-2 down

Player	Event	Result
Lleyton Hewitt	2003 Davis Cup World Group semifinal	57 26 76(4) 75 61
David Nalbandian	2005 Tennis Masters Cup	67(4) 67(11) 62 61 76(3)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	2011 Wimbledon	36 67(3) 64 64 64
Novak Djokovic	2011 US Open	67(7) 46 63 62 75
Kevin Anderson	2018 Wimbledon	26 67(5) 75 64 13-11

By defeating Federer in 5 sets in the quarterfinals, Anderson improved to a 3-4 win-loss record in 5-set matches at Wimbledon and an 11-10 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.

Wimbledon is Anderson’s joint-2nd strongest Grand Slam in terms of matches won. He has 17-9 win-loss record here and at Roland Garros – compared to 19-8 at the US Open and 11-10 at the Australian Open.

By reaching the semifinals here, Anderson became the first South African man to reach the last 4 at Wimbledon since Curren in 1983. (NB Curren was competing under the flag of USA when he finished runner-up here in 1985)

By reaching the semifinals here, Anderson became the 6th South African man in history to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon. Norton (1921, 1923), Louis Raymond (1924), Sturgess (1949, 1951), Cliff Drysdale (1965-66) and Curren are the only other South African players to have reached the semifinals of the men’s singles at Wimbledon.

By reaching his 2nd Grand Slam semifinal, Anderson also became the 7th South African man in history to reach multiple Grand Slam semifinals, after Sturgess (10 Grand Slam semifinals), Drysdale (5), Norton (3), Curren (2), Johan Kriek (2) and Wayne Ferreira (2). (NB Curren and Kriek both reached further Grand Slam semifinals while representing USA)

By reaching the semifinals here this year, Anderson has recorded his best Wimbledon result. His previous best performances here were reaching the round of 16 in 2014 (l. Andy Murray), 2015 (l. Novak Djokovic) and last year, when he fell to Sam Querrey in 5 sets.

In Grand Slam play in 2018, Anderson reached the round of 16 at Roland Garros, where he surrendered a 2-0 lead against Diego Schwartzman before losing in 5 sets. He also fell to Kyle Edmund in 5 sets in the 1st round at the Australian Open.

Prior to coming here, Anderson competed at Queen’s, where he fell to Leonardo Mayer in the 1st round.

Anderson’s best result in 2018 is winning the title at New York, defeating Querrey in the final. He also reached the final at Pune (l. Gilles Simon) and Acapulco (l. Juan Martin del Potro), the semifinals at Madrid-1000 (l. Dominic Thiem) and the quarterfinals at Indian Wells-1000 (l. Borna Coric) and Miami-1000 (l. Pablo Carreno Busta).

Anderson is bidding to record back-to-back victories against Top 10 opposition on grass for the first time. Prior to coming here, his only victory against a Top 5 player on grass came against No. 4 Stan Wawrinka in the 2nd round at 2015 Queen’s.

By defeating Federer in the quarterfinals, Anderson ended a 6-match losing streak against Top 5 players and recorded his 2nd victory against a Top 5 player at the majors. His only other victory against Top 5 opposition came at the 2015 US Open, when he defeated No. 3 Murray in the round of 16.

Anderson is looking to defeat 3 seeded players at a Grand Slam for the first time. By defeating No. 25 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber and No. 1 seed Federer here, Anderson has defeated 2 seeded players at a major for the 3rd time – after defeating No. 20 Dominic Thiem and No. 3 Murray at the 2015 US Open, and No. 17 Querrey and No. 12 Pablo Carreno Busta at the 2017 US Open. He has a 15-24 win-loss record against seeded opposition at the Grand Slams overall.

By reaching the semifinals here, Anderson has recorded 5 consecutive grass court match-wins at Tour-level for the first time. His previous best winning streak on grass was 4, which he achieved by reaching the final at 2015 Queen’s (l. Murray).

Anderson has won 4 career titles, all of which have come on a hard court. In addition to his victory at New York this year, he won at 2011 Johannesburg (d. Somdev Devvarman), 2012 Delray Beach (d. Marinko Matosevic) and 2015 Winston-Salem (d. Pierre-Hugues Herbert).

Anderson received travel grants from the Grand Slam Development Fund to play junior events in 2004.

Anderson is coached by Brad Stine.

ISNER is bidding to become the first American man to reach a Grand Slam final since Andy Roddick finished runner-up here in 2009.

If Isner reaches the final here on his 41st Grand Slam appearance, he will go 2nd on the list for most attempts before reaching a Grand Slam final in the Open Era.

Most attempts before reaching first Grand Slam final (Open Era)

Player	No. of attempts
David Ferrer	42
*John Isner??*	*41??*
Stan Wawrinka	36
Kevin Anderson	34
Kim Warwick	32
Marin Cilic	29

Isner is bidding to become the 12th American man to reach the Wimbledon final in the Open Era. He would become the 21st American man to reach the final at a Grand Slam in the Open Era.

If he wins today, Isner is projected to rise to at least No. 6 when the new rankings are released on Monday. He will break the Top 5 for the first time, at No. 5 if he wins the title here. By reaching the semifinals, he has ensured that he will rise to a new career-high ranking of at least No. 8 in next week’s rankings.

Isner is bidding to become just the 2nd No. 9 seed to reach the Wimbledon final in the Open Era, after Ken Rosewall finished runner-up here in 1974. He would be the 14th No. 9 seed to reach a Grand Slam final in the Open Era.

Isner is bidding to extend his streak of 95 consecutive games won on serve at 2018 Wimbledon, having not lost a game on serve here this year. Isner is the first man to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon without dropping serve since records began in 1992. Pete Sampras holds the record for most consecutive games won on serve here, having won 118 straight games on serve between the 3rd round in 2000 and the 2nd round in 2001.

By reaching his first semifinal on his 41st Grand Slam appearance, Isner has gone 2nd on the list for most attempts before reaching the semifinals at a Grand Slam in the Open Era. Only Sam Querrey, who reached this stage here last year on his 42nd major appearance, made more attempts before reaching the last 4 at a Grand Slam.

By reaching the last 4 here, Isner is the 23rd American man to reach the Wimbledon semifinals in the Open Era and the 43rd American man to reach a Grand Slam semifinal in the Open Era. He is the only American man left in this year’s Wimbledon men’s singles draw – USA had the most men in the singles draw here this year, with 14.

Isner is bidding to defeat 3 seeded players at the same Grand Slam for the first time in his career. By defeating No. 31 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and No. 13 Milos Raonic here, he has defeated 2 seeded players for the 2nd time. The only other occasion where he has achieved the feat is at the 2009 US Open, where he defeated No. 28 seed Victor Hanescu in the 1st round and No. 5 seed Andy Roddick in the 3rd round. He has a 9-23 win-loss record against seeded players at the Grand Slams.

By reaching the semifinals here, Isner has recorded his best Grand Slam performance. His previous best Grand Slam result was reaching the quarterfinals at the 2011 US Open (l. Andy Murray). He is one of 2 active American men – alongside Querrey – to have reached a Grand Slam semifinal.

Isner is bidding to record his 2nd victory against a Top 10 player at the Grand Slams on his 13th attempt. His only victory against a Top 10 player at the majors came against No. 5 Roddick in the 3rd round at the 2009 US Open. He has a 1-11 win-loss record against Top 10 players at the Grand Slams and a 24-55 win-loss record against Top 10 players overall.

Isner is bidding to record his 2nd victory against a Top 10 player on grass on his 5th attempt. His career-best victory on the surface came against No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic in the 3rd round at the 2012 Olympic Tennis Event.

Isner is bidding to record his 10th consecutive Tour-level match-win on grass and extend his longest streak of grass court match-wins at Tour-level. Following his 2nd round finish here last year (l. Dudi Sela), he won the title at 2017 Newport (d. Matthew Ebden) in his last grass court event. His previous best winning streak on grass at Tour-level was 8, which he achieved in winning the title at 2012 Newport through to a quarterfinal finish at the 2012 Olympic Tennis Event.

Wimbledon is Isner’s 3rd-most successful Grand Slam in terms of matches won. He has a 15-9 win-loss record here, compared to 24-11 at the US Open, 17-10 at Roland Garros and 13-10 at the Australian Open.

Isner’s 64 36 67(7) 76(3) 70-68 1st round defeat of Nicolas Mahut at 2010 Wimbledon played over 3 days set the record for the longest tennis match in history in terms of number of games and duration. The match lasted 11 hours 5 minutes and totalled 183 games. The final set alone lasted 8 hours 11 minutes. In comparison, the fewest games played through 7 rounds to win a Grand Slam Open Era men’s singles title is 147, by Guillermo Vilas at the 1977 US Open.

Isner’s 5-set victory against Ruben Bemelmans in the 2nd round here, where he saved 2 match points, was his first 5-set match-win at Wimbledon since defeating Mahut in 2010. He has a 2-4 win-loss record in 5-set matches here and a 9-17 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.

Isner’s best grass court performances are winning 3 career grass court titles – at Newport in 2011 (d. Oliver Rochus), 2012 (d. Lleyton Hewitt) and 2017. He was also a semifinalist at 2013 Newport (l. Hewitt) and a quarterfinalist at the 2012 Olympic Tennis Event held at the All England Club (l. Roger Federer).

In Grand Slam play in 2018, Isner reached the round of 16 at Roland Garros (l. Juan Martin del Potro), but fell in the 1st round at the Australian Open (l. Ebden).

Isner’s best result in 2018 is winning his first Masters-1000 title as at Miami-1000 (d. Alexander Zverev). At 32 years 11 months, he became the oldest first-time Masters-1000 champion and, at No. 17, the lowest-ranked Miami champion since No. 18 Jim Courier in 1991. He also reached the quarterfinals at Houston (l. Steve Johnson), Madrid-1000 (l. Alexander Zverev) and Lyon (l. Cameron Norrie).

Prior to winning the title at Miami-1000, Isner won just two Tour-level matches in 2018 – in USA’s Davis Cup World Group first round victory against Serbia (d. Dusan Lajovic) and in a 2nd round finish at Delray Beach (d. Albot,
Peter Gojowczyk). He lost his opening match at all other Tour-level events he contested prior to Miami-1000.

Isner is one of the 17 players who started the men’s singles draw not to have played a grass court event prior to Wimbledon this year. In the Open Era, just 7 men have won the title here without playing a warm-up event on grass – most recently Novak Djokovic in 2015.

Isner has played Davis Cup for USA since 2010 and has a 15-11 win-loss record in singles. He has won both rubbers he has played this year as USA recorded victories against Serbia and Belgium. USA travels to Croatia in the World Group semifinals on 14-16 September.