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The highs and the lows of Wimbledon

June 30, 2016 03:39 by author

For fans of tennis, the coming of Wimbledon is a bit like waking up on Christmas morning – it’s viewed as the pinnacle of the sport and winning there is something that the top players treasure.

The best players on the planet return year after year in their quests for glory.

Wiki

For some, like Pete Sampras and Roger Federer, winning Wimbledon became a habit. The pair have won seven singles titles each, although the latter will be hoping to add to that figure this year.

Sisters Venus and Serena Williams have won 11 titles between them, but both still have some way to go to catch Martina Navratilova. The US star won nine of the 13 women’s singles titles available between 1978 and 1990.

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The fortunes of Brits at Wimbledon has not been quite as successful. While Tim Henman now has Henman Hill named after him, the plucky Brit never reached a final at the All England Club.

Of course, Andy Murray has given everyone something to cheer about in recent years, but his 2013 success remains the only time since Fred Perry in 1936 that a British man has claimed glory.

Deadline

You have to go back to 1977 for the last British female singles winner, when Virginia Wade came from a set down to beat Betty Stove.

Eight years earlier, Ann Jones also claimed victory at Wimbledon, marking the only other victory in the Open era that started in 1968.

So here are a few of the highs, and the inevitable lows, that have occurred at Wimbledon over the years…

Highs

There’s only really one place to start when looking at recent times – and that’s in 2013. Andy Murray beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets to claim his second Grand Slam title. He did it the hard way too, coming from two sets down to beat Fernando Verdasco in the quarter finals, and from a set down in the semi-final against Jerzy Janowicz.

Djokovic meanwhile had faced a gruelling 5-set battle with Juan Martin Del Potro in the semi-final. The outcome was only decided after four hours and 43 minutes, making it the longest semi-final ever contested at the tournament.

Radiotimes

How much that epic semi-final took out of Djokovic will never truly be known, but Murray powered through the final against the world number one to triumph 6-4, 7-5, 6-4. Not bad eh?

However, victories against Djokovic have been few and far between since, while the Serbian star has claimed the trophy in both years since.

Fred Perry

Maybe the best Brit to play the game, Fred Perry claimed glory in 1934, 1935 and 1936, twice beating German Gottfried von Cramm in the final. All three victories came in straight sets, and it is perhaps only right that you can find a statue of the star at the club.

Wiki

The introduction of the tie-break dramatically reduced the likelihood of records being broken for the longest tennis matches, yet amazingly fans were served up a real treat in 2010.

John Isner faced Nicolas Mahut in the first round and eventually triumphed 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 70-68 after 11 hours and five minutes of play, spread across three days. The total of 183 games was captivating and the final set lasted eight hours and 11 minutes!

Nonstriker

The final set alone was longer than the previous record breaking match while both players served more than 100 aces.

Unfortunately for Isner, his Wimbledon dream wouldn’t last much longer. Facing Thiemo De Bakker in the next round, he duly lost 0-5, 3-6, 2-6 in only 74 minutes and didn’t serve a single ace. A clearly exhausted Isner required medical treatment throughout the match for a number of injuries, as his epic encounter with Mahut had taken its toll.

The lows

One year before Murray claimed Wimbledon glory, he was denied in the final by Roger Federer. Things had looked so promising for Murray too as he claimed the first set 6-4. Unfortunately for the Brit though, the next 3 sets weren’t quite as good. The Swiss star won them all, 7-5, 6-3 and then 6-4 to claim a record equalling seventh title.

Radiotimes

Another Brit to get so close, but be so far from glory was Bunny Austin. Having twice reached the Wimbledon final – in 1932 and 1938 – he was beaten in straight sets on both occasions. He won only ten games across the six sets he played in the two finals, first losing to Ellsworth Vines 6-4, 6-2, 6-0, and then 6-1, 6-0, 6-3 to Don Budge.

Henman…one failure after another

Henman, famed for his serve and volley approach, lost the 2002 semi-final in straight sets to Australian Lleyton Hewitt, the 2001 semi-final in five sets to Goran Ivanisevic, the both the 1999 and 1998 semi-finals to Pete Sampras in four sets each.

Add in several quarter final defeats at the All England Club and it’s easy to see why Henman may not look back on his time at Wimbledon to fondly – even if the fans still supported him through thick and thin.

Of course Wimbledon has seen many other highs and lows over the years, perhaps too many to mention, but these are a few that stick in the memory…