SETTING THE SCENE: The stats behind the All-England Lawn Tennis Championships
Winning Wimbledon is no mean feat having to win seven matches in a row against some of the world’s best and no player has done so in a more convincing fashion than Roger Federer as he won the tournament in 2017 without losing a single set in any of his seven wins, including the final.
Federer is the most successful male player in the long history of the tournament having won the singles title eight times, most recently in 2017.
The presence of so many great players doesn’t mean there isn’t the chance of an upset and Wimbledon has been home to many underdog stories throughout the years.
The greatest of all came in 2001 where 125th ranked Goran Ivanišević took home the title against all odds. He headed into the tournament nursing a shoulder injury which needed surgery as well as having seen his rank fall after not making it past the second round at Wimbledon in his last six attempts.
He was going into the tournament against the likes of seven-time champion Pete Sampras, a young Roger Federer and fan-favourite Tim Henman. The Croatian went on to win the final in a five-set thriller which would see him become the lowest ranked player and first ever wildcard to win Wimbledon.
Wimbledon holds a lot of records, including the longest match in the history of professional Tennis.
This happened when John Isner played Nicolas Mahut in the first round in 2010 on Court 18, the match saw 11 hours and five minutes of tennis played over the course of three days. This is over four hours more than the second longest tennis match in history.
Isner ran out the eventual winner after a gruelling 183 games, including two tie breaks.
This was not the only record broken by Isner during the match as the 6-foot 10 inch American, known for his serve and volley skills served up a record breaking 113 aces in a single match.
However, none of these set the record for the fastest serve at the championships with that record being set by Taylor Dent in the same year when he smashed down a 148mph serve in his second-round match against Novak Djokovic.
With so many tennis balls being smashed around it’s no surprise that they get through some 54,250 balls at the Championships.
If there’s one thing equally synonymous with the word tennis to Wimbledon, it’s strawberries. They are one of the pillars of the Championships and around 191,930 portions are served to the crowds each year.
Looking to this year’s edition of Wimbledon, legends of the game and exciting young players promise to make it a tournament worth watching.
If you fancy having a tennis bet and want to join the Betdaq Betting Exchange then check out our latest sign up offers here
