Wimbledon Men’s Final Open Thread: Roger Federer v. Andy Murray
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Wimbledon 2012 sees the 126th staging of The Lawn Tennis Championships, which began in 1877 with Britain’s Spencer Gore defeating compatriot William Marshall 61 62 64 for the inaugural title. This is the 45th staging of The Championships in the Open Era, the first being in 1968 when Australia’s Rod Laver defeated countryman Tony Roche 63 64 62. Wimbledon 2012 is the 178th Grand Slam tournament of the Open Era.
Prize money and ATP ranking points: Today’s champion receives £1,150,000 in prize money, while the runner-up collects £575,000. In total, the men’s singles prize fund for 2012 Wimbledon is £5,770,000, a 10.3% increase on 2011. The winner is also awarded 2000 ATP ranking points, with the runner-up receiving 1200.
ATP rankings update: If Roger Federer wins today he will regain the No. 1 ranking when the ATP Rankings are released on Monday 9 July. He is guaranteed to move to No. 2 even if he loses the final. Andy Murray will be No. 4 regardless of whether he wins today.
NO. 3 ROGER FEDERER (SUI) v NO. 4 ANDY MURRAY (GBR)
Head-to-head: Murray leads 8-7
A 3rd Grand Slam final for the 2 players but a first grass court encounter.
Federer has won both their previous Grand Slam meetings without the loss of a set. Murray is one of just 2 active players who have had more than one career meeting with Federer to hold a winning head-to-head, the other is Rafael Nadal (18-10).
Federer leads Murray 4-2 in finals. The Swiss has only lost one Wimbledon final – to Nadal in 2008.
This is the first time that both No. 1 and No. 2 seeds are missing from a Grand Slam final since Murray and Novak Djokovic met in the final at the 2011 Australian Open.
6-time Wimbledon champion FEDERER is bidding to join record-holders William Renshaw and Pete Sampras in winning 7 career Wimbledon titles.
Federer is looking to become the 7th man to win 7 titles at any Grand Slam event: William Renshaw and Pete Sampras both won 7 Wimbledon titles, Richard Sears, Bill Larned and Bill Tilden all won 7 titles at the US Championships and Rafael Nadal won his 7th Roland Garros title last month.
Federer is bidding to win his 17th Grand Slam title and close the gap on the 5 women who have won more Grand Slam singles titles than him.
If Federer wins the title today he will reclaim the No. 1 spot in the ATP Rankings when they are released on Monday 9 July. If he achieves this he will match record-holder Pete Sampras for the total number of weeks as the world No. 1. He is already guaranteed to overtake Nadal and reclaim the No. 2 spot.
MURRAY is bidding to become the first British men’s winner at Wimbledon since Fred Perry won the last of his 3 singles titles here in 1936. He would also be the first British men’s winner at any Grand Slam event since Fred Perry won the US Championships later the same year. He is bidding to end a 7-match losing streak by British players in Grand Slam finals.
Murray is just the 3rd British man to reach the Wimbledon final since the Challenge Round* was abolished in 1922, after Austin and Perry. Perry won all 3 of his finals in 1934, 1935 and 1936 to be crowned Wimbledon champion.
This is the 286th Grand Slam event since a British man last won a major title. Murray is one of 4 British men to have reached a Grand Slam final since Perry’s victory at the 1936 US Championships.
Murray is bidding to avoid becoming just the second man in the Open Era to lose his first 4 Grand Slam finals. Ivan Lendl lost in 4 Grand Slam finals at 1981 Roland Garros, the 1982 and 1983 US Opens, and the 1983 Australian Open before winning his first Grand Slam title at 1984 Roland Garros.
(Data courtesy ITF)
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