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2018 WIMBLEDON

DAY 13 MEN’S NOTES

Sunday 15 July

Singles Final

 

8 KEVIN ANDERSON (RSA) v NO. 12 NOVAK DJOKOVIC (SRB)

This is the 132nd staging of The Championships, which began in 1877. This is the 51st edition of The Championships in the Open Era, the first being in 1968 when Australia’s Rod Laver defeated compatriot Tony Roche in straight sets to win the title. 2018 Wimbledon is the 202nd Grand Slam tournament of the Open Era.

 

Player	Country	Age	ATP Rank	Best Wimbledon Performance	Best Grand Slam Performance	Grass Court Titles
(8) Kevin Anderson	RSA	32	8	Final 18	Final US Open 17, Wimbledon 18	0
(12) Novak Djokovic	SRB	31	21	Winner 11, 14-15	12 titles	4

 

 

At stake for the finalists, in addition to the prestige of the Wimbledon title, is the following:

 

	Prize money (£)	ATP Ranking Points
Champion	2,250,000	2000
Finalist	1,125,000	1200

 

ATP Rankings update

If Anderson wins today, he is projected to rise to a career-high ranking of No. 4. By reaching the final here, he has ensured he will break the world’s Top 5 for the first time in his career.

 

Djokovic has ensured that he will rise to at least No. 11 – his highest-ranking since November last year – by reaching the final here. He will re-enter the Top 10, at No. 10, if he wins today.

 

               Projected rankings – if Anderson wins                          Projected rankings – if Djokovic wins

Rank	Player	Points		Rank	Player	Points
1.	Rafael Nadal	9310		1.	Rafael Nadal	9310
2.	Roger Federer	7080		2.	Roger Federer	7080
3.	Alexander Zverev	5665		3.	Alexander Zverev	5665
4.	Kevin Anderson	5455		4.	Juan Martin del Potro	5395
5.	Juan Martin del Potro	5395		5.	Kevin Anderson	4655
6.	Grigor Dimitrov	4610		6.	Grigor Dimitrov	4610
7.	Marin Cilic	3905		7.	Marin Cilic	3905
8.	John Isner	3720		8.	John Isner	3720
9.	Dominic Thiem	3665		9.	Dominic Thiem	3665
10.	David Goffin	3120		10.	Novak Djokovic	3355
11.	Novak Djokovic	2555		11.	David Goffin	3120

 

 

No. 8 v No. 12

This is the 2nd meeting between the No. 8 seed and the No. 12 seed in a Grand Slam final in the Open Era – after       No. 12 Andre Agassi defeated No. 8 Goran Ivanisevic in the 1992 Wimbledon final. This year’s final is the 3rd Wimbledon final in the Open Era to feature none of the Top 4 seeds – and the first since 1996, when Richard Krajicek defeated MaliVai Washington after both players reached the final unseeded.

 

The No. 8 seed has reached the final at a Grand Slam on 7 previous occasions in the Open Era, and twice at Wimbledon – when Kevin Curren lost to Boris Becker in 1985 and Ivanisevic lost to Agassi in 1992. Brian Teacher, who won the title at the 1980 Australian Open, and Stan Wawrinka, who won the titles at the 2014 Australian Open and 2015 Roland Garros, are the only No. 8 seeds to win a Grand Slam title in the Open Era.

 

The No. 12 seed has reached the final at a Grand Slam on 8 previous occasions in the Open Era, and 3 times at Wimbledon – when Agassi defeated Ivanisevic in 1992, Pat Rafter lost to Pete Sampras in 2000 and Tomas Berdych lost to Rafael Nadal in 2010. Three No. 12 seeds have won Grand Slam titles in the Open Era – Sampras at the 1990 US Open, Agassi at 1992 Wimbledon and Carlos Moya at 1998 Roland Garros.

 

Wimbledon final debut

For the 3rd consecutive year, a member of the ‘Big 4’ (comprising Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Nadal) takes on a player making his first appearance in the Wimbledon final. Milos Raonic finished runner-up to Murray in 2016 and Marin Cilic finished runner-up to Federer here last year.

 

Anderson is looking to become the first player to win the Wimbledon title on his debut in the final here since Novak Djokovic won his first Wimbledon crown in 2011. In the Open Era, 14 men have won the Wimbledon title on their debut appearance in the final here. (NB Not including Rod Laver or John Newcombe who appeared in pre-Open Era finals here prior to winning their first Wimbledon titles in the Open Era)

 

Djokovic is contesting his 22nd Grand Slam final – he has a 12-9 win-loss record in Grand Slam finals, and has won 3 of his 4 previous Wimbledon finals. Anderson is contesting his 2nd Grand Slam final, having lost to Nadal in straight sets at the 2017 US Open on his only previous appearance in the title match at a major.

 

The 30s Club

With Anderson (32 years 58 days) and Djokovic (31 years 54 days) through to the title match here this year, this is the first time in the Open Era that the Wimbledon men’s singles final has been contested by a pair of players aged 30 or over. Just 5 other men in the Open Era have reached the Wimbledon final after turning 30 – Rod Laver (1969), Ken Rosewall (1970, 1974), Arthur Ashe (1975), Jimmy Connors (1984) and Federer (2012, 2014-15, 2017).

 

It is the 8th time in the Open Era that a Grand Slam men’s singles final has been contested by a pair of 30-somethings – and the 4th time in the last 7 Grand Slam events, after Federer and Nadal at the 2017 Australian Open, Nadal and Wawrinka at 2017 Roland Garros, and Anderson and Nadal at the 2017 US Open.

 

With Angelique Kerber (30 years 177 days) and Serena Williams (36 years 291 days) contesting the women’s singles final here, this is the 2nd time in the Open Era that both the men’s singles and women’s singles finals at a Grand Slam have been contested by pairs of 30-somethings. The only other occasion in the Open Era that all 4 singles finalists have been aged 30 or over is the 2017 Australian Open, when Federer defeated Nadal in the men’s singles and Serena Williams defeated Venus Williams in the women’s singles.

 

2018 leaders

Anderson is bidding to become the 5th player to reach 30 Tour-level match-wins in 2018 today, after Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Nadal and Juan Martin del Potro. Djokovic is currently in joint-9th place on the list for most Tour-level            match-wins this year, alongside Borna Coric.

 

2018 Tour-level match-wins

Player	Win-loss
Dominic Thiem Alexander Zverev	36-11 36-11
Rafael Nadal	35-3
Juan Martin del Potro	32-8
Kevin Anderson Roger Federer	29-10 29-4
Marin Cilic	28-10
Fabio Fognini	27-14
Borna Coric Novak Djokovic	24-11 24-9

 

Djokovic is in 2nd place on the list for most Tour-level grass court match-wins in 2018 – and one of only 2 players, alongside Federer to have recorded at least 10 match-wins on the surface this year. Anderson will move into joint-5th place on the list, alongside Jeremy Chardy, Matthew Ebden and Nick Kyrgios, if he wins today and records his 7th   Tour-level match-win on grass this year.

 

2018 Tour-level match-wins on grass

Player	Win-loss
Roger Federer	12-2
Novak Djokovic	10-1
Milos Raonic	9-2
Adrian Mannarino	8-4
Jeremy Chardy Matthew Ebden Nick Kyrgios	7-3 7-3 7-3
Kevin Anderson Marin Cilic Stefanos Tsitsipas Jiri Vesely Mischa Zverev	6-1 6-1 6-3 6-2 6-3

 

Anderson and Djokovic have just one Tour-level title between them in 2018 ahead of today’s final – Anderson’s victory at New York in February. It is the first time since 2006 that Djokovic has failed to win a Tour-level title ahead of Wimbledon. Anderson will become the 7th player to win multiple Tour-level titles in 2018 if he wins today.

 

Players to win multiple Tour-level titles in 2018

Player	Titles won
Rafael Nadal	4 (Monte Carlo-1000, Barcelona, Rome-1000, Roland Garros)
Roger Federer	3 (Australian Open, Rotterdam, Stuttgart)
Kevin Anderson?? Roberto Bautista Agut Juan Martin del Potro Dominic Thiem Alexander Zverev	2?? (New York, Wimbledon??) 2 (Auckland, Dubai) 2 (Acapulco, Indian Wells-1000) 2 (Buenos Aires, Lyon) 2 (Munich, Madrid-1000)

 

The record-breaking semifinals

At 6 hours 36 minutes, Anderson’s victory against John Isner in the semifinals here is the 2nd-longest match in Grand Slam history. It is also the longest match that has ever been played on Centre Court and one of only 3 Grand Slam singles matches to have lasted longer than 6 hours – after Isner’s 11 hour 5 minute victory against Nicolas Mahut in the 1st round here in 2010 and Fabrice Santoro’s victory against Arnaud Clement in the 1st round at 2004 Roland Garros, which lasted 6 hours 33 minutes.

 

The match is also the 3rd-longest singles match in history, behind Isner’s victory against Mahut in the 1st round  here in 2010 and Leonardo Mayer’s victory against Joao Souza in Argentina’s victory against Brazil in the 2015 Davis Cup World Group first round, which lasted 6 hours 43 minutes.

 

With a total 99 games contested, the match is also the 3rd-longest match in Wimbledon history in terms of games – after Isner and Mahut’s record of 183 games and Pancho Gonzales’ 1st round victory over Charlie Pasarell here in 1969, which lasted 112 games. With a 5th set of 50 games, it is the 2nd-highest number of games in a set after the 138-game final set contested by Isner and Mahut.

 

The 3rd set tiebreak, which Isner won 11-9, was also the longest tiebreak in a Wimbledon men’s singles semifinal in history. Not to be outdone, Djokovic and Nadal equalled that record in the 3rd set tiebreak of their semifinal, which Djokovic also won 11-9.

 

During the semifinal, Anderson served 49 aces while Isner served 53 to bring his total tally of aces at this year’s Wimbledon to 214 – setting a record for most aces served at a single Wimbledon event since records began in 1992, surpassing Goran Ivanisevic’s count of 213 in 2001. Anderson enters the final having served 172 aces so far this year.

 

At 5 hours 15 minutes, Djokovic’s semifinal victory against Nadal is the 5th-longest men’s singles match in Wimbledon history. Like the Anderson-Isner semifinal, it surpassed duration of the previous longest Wimbledon men’s singles semifinal – Djokovic’s 5-set victory against Del Potro in 2013, which lasted 4 hours 44 minutes.

 

With both men’s singles semifinals this year lasting 5 sets, this is the first time that both semifinals at Wimbledon have gone to 5 sets since 2001, when Ivanisevic defeated Tim Henman and Rafter defeated Agassi.

Head-to-head: Djokovic leads 5-1

2008     AMS Miami                   Hard (O)           R64      Anderson          76(1) 36 64

2011     Miami-1000                   Hard (O)           QF        Djokovic           64 62

2011     Madrid-1000                  Clay (O)            R32      Djokovic           63 64

2011     Wimbledon                  Grass (O)         R64      Djokovic           63 64 62

2012     Indian Wells-1000          Hard (O)           R32      Djokovic           62 63

2015     Wimbledon                  Grass (O)         R16      Djokovic           67(6) 67(6) 61 64 75

 

A 7th meeting for the pair, and their 3rd at Wimbledon. Djokovic has not lost to Anderson since their first meeting – in the 2nd round at AMS Miami more than 10 years ago.

 

Djokovic won the pair’s first Wimbledon meeting in straight sets in the 2nd round in 2011, but was forced to recover from 0-2 down for the 4th time in his career in the pair’s round of 16 meeting here in 2015. Djokovic eventually won in 5 sets and went on to defeat Roger Federer in the final that year.

 

                        ANDERSON                                     v                                      DJOKOVIC

 

                               32                                          Age                                          31

                         6’8’’/2.03m                                  Height                                  6’2’’/1.88m

                                8                                    ATP Ranking                                   21

                         11,658,256                     Career Earnings (US$)                     111,165,585

                                4                                          Titles                                         68

                             65-36                      Career Grand Slam Record                     250-41

        Final 17 US Open, 18 Wimbledon    Best Grand Slam Result                   Won 12 titles

                              18-9                             Wimbledon Record                            64-10

                           300-211                              Career Record                              807-172

                             36-24                         Career Record – Grass                          87-18

                             29-10                                 2018 Record                                  24-9

                               6-1                             2018 Record – Grass                            10-1

                             12-10                         Career Five-Set Record                          29-9

                                3                         Comebacks from 0-2 Down                         4

                           176-149                      Career Tiebreak Record                       224-132

                             21-13                          2018 Tiebreak Record                            6-8

 

Road to the Final

ANDERSON	Time		Time	DJOKOVIC
d. (Q) Norbert Gombos 63 64 64 d. Andreas Seppi 63 67(5) 63 64	1:56 2:39	1st round 2nd round	1:33 1:31	d. Tennys Sandgren 63 61 62 d. Horacio Zeballos 61 62 63
d. No. 25 Philipp Kohlschreiber 63 75 75	2:07	3rd round	2:54	d. No. 21 Kyle Edmund 46 63 62 64
d. Gael Monfils 76(4) 76(2) 57 76(4) d. No. 1 Roger Federer 26 67(5) 75 64 13-11 d. No. 9 John Isner 76(6) 67(5) 67(9) 64 26-24	3:29 4:14 6:36	Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals	1:46 2:35 5:15	d. Karen Khachanov 64 62 62 d. No. 24 Kei Nishikori 63 36 62 62 d. No. 2 Rafael Nadal 64 36 76(9) 36 10-8
total time on court	21:01	(IBM time)	15:34	total time on court

 

2018 Wimbledon match stats

Player	Aces	Double Faults	1st serve %	Break points saved	Service games won	Games dropped
No. 8 Kevin Anderson	172	23	68	21 of 32	147 of 158	147
No. 12 Novak Djokovic	64	12	71	19 of 30	90 of 101	78

 

• ANDERSON is bidding to become the first South African man to win the Wimbledon title.

 

• Anderson is also bidding to become the 2nd South African man to win a Grand Slam title after Johan Kriek, who won the title at the 1981 Australian Open. (NB Kriek represented USA when he won his 2nd Australian Open title in 1982)

 

• Anderson is also bidding to become the 2nd African man to win the Wimbledon title after Jaroslav Drobny, who represented Egypt when he defeated Ken Rosewall to win his only Wimbledon title in 1954.

 

• At 32 years 58 days, Anderson is bidding to become the 2nd-oldest first-time Grand Slam champion in the Open Era after Andres Gimeno who was 34 years 206 days when he won his only major title at 1972 Roland Garros. The oldest first-time Wimbledon champion in the Open Era is Arthur Ashe, who was 31 years 360 days when he won his only Wimbledon title in 1975. (see table overleaf)

 

Oldest first-time Grand Slam champions (Open Era)

Player	Grand Slam	Age
Andres Gimeno	1972 Roland Garros	34 years 206 days
Kevin Anderson??	2018 Wimbledon??	32 years 58 days
Andres Gomez	1990 Roland Garros	30 years 103 days
Petr Korda	1998 Australian Open	30 years 9 days

 

• Anderson is bidding to become the 150th men’s singles Grand Slam champion in history. Marin Cilic, the most-recent first-time major winner, became the 149th different man to win a Grand Slam title at the 2014 US Open.

 

• Anderson is bidding to become the 15th man in the Open Era to win the title on his Wimbledon final debut – and the first since today’s opponent won the title on his first appearance in the final here in 2011.

 

• If Anderson wins today and claims his first Grand Slam title on his 37th Grand Slam appearance, he will go 2nd on the list for most attempts before winning a first major title.

Most attempts before winning first Grand Slam title (Open Era)

Player	First Grand Slam title	No. of attempts
Goran Ivanisevic	2001 Wimbledon	48
Kevin Anderson??	2018 Wimbledon??	37??
Stan Wawrinka	2014 Australian Open	36
Petr Korda	1998 Australian Open	34
Marin Cilic	2014 US Open	29
Andy Murray	2012 US Open	28

 

• If he wins today, Anderson will be the first player to win the Wimbledon men’s singles title from match point down since 1960, when Neale Fraser saved 5 match points in his quarterfinal victory against Butch Buchholz before going on to defeat Rod Laver in the final. Anderson saved one match point in the 3rd set of his quarterfinal victory against Roger Federer. A total of 8 players have won the Wimbledon men’s singles title from match point down.

 

• If he wins today, Anderson will be the 13th player in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam men’s singles title from match point down. Stan Wawrinka, who won the 2016 US Open title after saving one match point in his 3rd round victory against Dan Evans, is the most recent Grand Slam champion to achieve the feat.

 

• By reaching his 2nd Grand Slam final, Anderson has equalled 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 Kevin 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. (NB Curren reached a 2nd Grand Slam final at 1985 Wimbledon but was representing USA at that time)

 

• By reaching his 2nd Grand Slam final, Anderson has become the 2nd South African man in history to reach multiple Grand Slam finals, after Eric Sturgess. He is also the first South African man to reach the Wimbledon final since Brian Norton in 1921.

 

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

Player	Grand Slam	Result
Brian Norton*	1921 Wimbledon	l. Bill Tilden 46 26 61 60 75
Eric Sturgess	1947 Roland Garros 1948 US Championships 1951 Roland Garros	l. Jozsef Asboth 86 75 64 l. Pancho Gonzales 62 63 14-12 l. Jaroslav Drobny 63 63 63
Ian Vermaak	1959 Roland Garros	l. Nicola Pietrangeli 36 63 64 61
Cliff Drysdale	1965 US Championships	l. Manolo Santana 62 79 75 61
Johan Kriek**	1981 Australian Open	d. Steve Denton 62 76 67 64
Kevin Curren**	1984 Australian Open	l. Mats Wilander 67 64 76 62
Kevin Anderson	2017 US Open 2018 Wimbledon	l. Rafael Nadal 63 63 64 v Novak Djokovic

                                *Norton defeated Manuel Alonso in the All-Comers final before falling to Tilden in the Challenge Round

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

 

• By reaching his 2nd Grand Slam final, Anderson has 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 Drobny, who represented Egypt when he reached the finals at Roland Garros in 1950-52 and at Wimbledon in 1952 and 1954. He has also become the 3rd African man, after Norton and Drobny, to reach the Wimbledon final.

 

• By reaching the final aged 32 years 58 days, Anderson has become the 11th man in the Open Era to reach multiple Grand Slam finals after turning 30. Nadal was the most recent man to achieve the feat, reaching his 2nd major final after his 30th birthday at 2017 Roland Garros.

 

• By reaching his first Wimbledon final on his 10th appearance here, Anderson is 2nd on the Open Era list for most attempts before reaching the final at Wimbledon. Only Marin Cilic, who reached his first final here on his 11th Wimbledon appearance last year, has made more attempts before reaching the Wimbledon final.

 

• By reaching his first Wimbledon final 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. today’s opponent) and last year, when he fell to Sam Querrey in 5 sets.

 

• By recovering from 0-2 down to defeat No. 1 seed 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 both Federer and John Isner in 5 sets here this year, Anderson improved to a 4-4 win-loss record in 5-set matches at Wimbledon and a 12-10 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.

 

• Wimbledon is Anderson’s 2nd strongest Grand Slam in terms of matches won. He has an 18-9 win-loss record here, compared to 19-8 at the US Open, 17-9 at Roland Garros and 11-10 at the Australian Open.

 

• 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).

 

• By defeating No. 25 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, No. 1 seed Federer and No. 9 seed Isner here, Anderson has defeated 3 seeded players at a major for the first time. He has a 16-24 win-loss record against seeded opposition at the Grand Slams overall.

 

• By reaching the final here, Anderson has recorded 6 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.

 

• DJOKOVIC is bidding to win his 4th Wimbledon title and equal Reggie Doherty, Rod Laver and Anthony Wilding in 6th place on the all-time list for most Wimbledon titles. (see table overleaf)

Wimbledon men’s singles titles (all-time)

Rank	Player	No. of titles
1.	Roger Federer	8
2=	William Renshaw Pete Sampras	7 7
4=	Bjorn Borg Laurie Doherty	5 5
6=	Novak Djokovic?? Reggie Doherty Rod Laver Anthony Wilding	4?? 4 4 4

 

• Djokovic is also bidding to win his 13th Grand Slam title and claim sole ownership of 4th place on the all-time list for most Grand Slam men’s singles titles.

 

Grand Slam men’s singles titles (all-time)

Rank	Player	No. of titles
1.	Roger Federer	20
2.	Rafael Nadal	17
3.	Pete Sampras	14
4.	Novak Djokovic	13??
5.	Roy Emerson	12

 

• Ranked No. 21, Djokovic is bidding to become the lowest-ranked man to win the Wimbledon title since No. 125 Goran Ivanisevic in 2001. By reaching the final here, he became the lowest-ranked man to reach the Wimbledon final since No. 48 Mark Philippoussis finished runner-up here in 2003.

 

• Djokovic is also bidding to become the lowest-ranked man to win a Grand Slam title since No. 44 Gaston Gaudio won the title at 2004 Roland Garros. He is one of the 6 men ranked outside the Top 20 to reach the final at a major since Gaudio’s victory in Paris – after No. 37 Mariano Puerta at 2005 Roland Garros, No. 54 Marcos Baghdatis at the 2006 Australian Open, No. 38 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the 2008 Australian Open, No. 25 Robin Soderling at 2009 Roland Garros and No. 32 today’s opponent at the 2017 US Open.

 

• Djokovic has a 12-9 win-loss record in his 21 previous Grand Slam finals. He has a 3-1 win-loss record in Wimbledon finals. This is the first time he has faced a player other than Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray in a Wimbledon final.

 

Djokovic’s record in Grand Slam finals

Grand Slam	Final Result
2007 US Open	l. Roger Federer 76(4) 76(2) 64
2008 Australian Open	d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 46 64 63 76(2)
2010 US Open	l. Rafael Nadal 64 57 64 62
2011 Australian Open	d. Andy Murray 64 62 63
2011 Wimbledon	d. Rafael Nadal 64 61 16 63
2011 US Open	d. Rafael Nadal 62 64 67(3) 61
2012 Australian Open	d. Rafael Nadal 57 64 62 67(5) 75
2012 Roland Garros	l. Rafael Nadal 64 63 26 75
2012 US Open	l. Andy Murray 76(10) 75 26 36 62
2013 Australian Open	d. Andy Murray 67(2) 76(3) 63 62
2013 Wimbledon	l. Andy Murray 64 75 64
2013 US Open	l. Rafael Nadal 62 36 64 61
2014 Roland Garros	l. Rafael Nadal 36 75 62 64
2014 Wimbledon	d. Roger Federer 67(7) 64 76(4) 57 64
2015 Australian Open	d. Andy Murray 76(5) 67(4) 63 60
2015 Roland Garros	l. Stan Wawrinka 46 64 63 64
2015 Wimbledon	d. Roger Federer 76(1) 67(10) 64 63
2015 US Open	d. Roger Federer 64 57 74 74
2016 Australian Open	d. Andy Murray 61 75 76(3)
2016 Roland Garros	d. Andy Murray 36 61 62 64
2016 US Open	l. Stan Wawrinka 67(1) 64 75 63
2018 Wimbledon	v Kevin Anderson

 

• Djokovic is looking to win his 5th grass court title and take sole ownership of 3rd place on the list for most grass court titles won among active players, ahead of Nadal and Nicolas Mahut. Federer (18 grass court titles) and Murray (8) are the only other active players to have won more titles on grass.

 

• 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 most successful Grand Slam event in terms of matches won, his 2nd-most successful in terms of titles won and his 3rd-most 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	4??	64-10	5
US Open	2	62-10	7

 

• Djokovic’s victory against Nadal in the semifinals here was his 250th Grand Slam match-win. He is the 2nd man in history to record 250 match-wins at the majors, after Federer (336 Grand Slam match-wins).

 

• By defeating Nadal in semifinals here, Djokovic recorded his 64th Wimbledon match-win and claimed 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	64-10
5.	Pete Sampras	63-7

 

• By defeating Nadal in the semifinals here, Djokovic also recorded his 807th Tour-level match-win and claimed 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), Nadal (908), John McEnroe (881) and Andre Agassi (870) have recorded more Tour-level match-wins.

 

• By reaching his 22nd Grand Slam final – and his first since he finished runner-up at the 2016 US Open – Djokovic has closed the gap on Nadal in 2nd place on the all-time list for most Grand Slam final appearances. Federer (30) and Nadal (24) are the only players in history to have reached a Grand Slam final more often than Djokovic.

 

• By reaching his 5th Wimbledon final, Djokovic has equalled McEnroe and Nadal in joint-6th place on the Open Era list for most Wimbledon final appearances. It is his first Wimbledon final since he won back-to-back titles here in 2014-15.

 

• Djokovic has won 9 of his last 10 five-set matches – including his semifinal victory over Nadal here this year. He has an 8-1 win-loss record in 5-set matches at Wimbledon, with his only defeat coming against Mario Ancic in 2006, and has a 29-9 win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.

 

• 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.

 

• 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. Nadal) 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 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 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.

 

 

***All statistics courtesy of ITF/Grand Slam Media