Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams chase their own slice of history next week at SW19. We look at the best Opta facts ahead of Wimbledon 2021.

Women’s Singles

  • Serena Williams’ next Grand Slam victory will be her 24th, equalling Margaret Court for the most of all-time in women’s tennis.
  • Serena Williams has won seven Wimbledon Women’s Singles titles (level with Steffi Graf): only Martina Navratilova has more in the Open Era (9).
  • Serena Williams was runner-up in Wimbledon 2018 (v Angelique Kerber) and 2019 (v Simona Halep): Chris Evert is the only previous player in the Open Era to have lost in the final of three Wimbledon Tournaments in a row (between 1978 and 1980).
Halep Wimbledon 2019 frame
Defending women’s champion Simona Halep has pulled out of Wimbledon because of a calf injury.
  • Serena Williams is looking to become only the second player to win 100 matches at Wimbledon (currently 98), alongside Martina Navratilova. She could also become the first player to reach 100+ wins in two different Majors (106 wins at the US Open).
  • Since the first Wimbledon Final reached by one Williams sister in 2000 (won by Venus v Lindsay Davenport), only in four of these 20 tournament editions have neither of the two sisters reached the final: in 2006 (Mauresmo-Henin), 2011 (Kvitova-Sharapova), 2013 (Bartoli-Lisicki) and 2014 (Kvitova-Bouchard).
  • Wimbledon’s Women’s Singles title has never been won by a non-seeded player in the Open Era: the lowest-seeded player to win the tournament was Venus Williams #23 in 2007 against Marion Bartoli.
  • Maria Sharapova in 2004 is the last player to win two tournaments on grass in the same campaign (Birmingham and Wimbledon).
  • After Simona Halep in 2019, Angelique Kerber in 2018 and Garbine Muguruza in 2017, Wimbledon’s Women’s Singles main draw could be won by a European player in four consecutive campaigns for the first time since 1991-1998 (eight in a row – five by Steffi Graf, and one for Conchita Martinez, Martina Hingis and Jana Novotna).
  • Only one tie-break has been played in the Women’s Singles Final over the last 14 seasons: in the maiden set between Serena and Venus Williams in 2009, won by the younger sister.
  • The last player to win the Women’s Singles Final after having lost the first set was Amélie Mauresmo against Justine Henin in 2006 (2-6 6-3 6-4).
  • Johanna Konta’s semi-final defeat to Venus Williams in 2017 is the best result by a British women’s player in the tournament since 2000. She hit 25 aces that year. Only Magdalena Rybarikova (28) hit more.
Konta Wimbledon 2017 frame
  • The number 1 seeded player in the Wimbledon Women’s Singles main draw has been eliminated in the first round only three times in the Open Era: Steffi Graf in 1994 v Lori McNeil and Martina Hingis in 1999 v Jelena Dokic and 2000 v Virginia Ruano Pascual.
  • Ashleigh Barty has never reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon (the fourth round in 2019 is her best result): the last Australian player to reach the QF in Wimbledon was Jelena Dokic back in 2000 when she won against the Spaniard Magui Serna and lost in the SF to Lindsay Davenport.
  • Aryna Sabalenka is the only player currently ranked in the top-20 in the WTA Rankings yet to reach a quarter-final in a Major Tournament.
  • Prior to this season, Bianca Andreescu had only played one WTA main draw match on grass, losing against Kristina Kucova in Wimbledon in 2017 (6-4 6-3).
  • Wimbledon is the only Major that Petra Kvitova has won in her career (2011 and 2014). She is one among the three current players with multiple titles at the All England Club, alongside Serena and Venus Williams.
  • Karolina Pliskova made the most aces on average in Wimbledon 2019 (9.0, 36 in total) among players who reached the third round.
  • Angelique Kerber has played six WTA main draws on grass courts, and her last tournament win was back in Wimbledon in 2019. In the 2000s, only Serena Williams (12) and Venus Williams (nine) made more finals on grass than the German among current players.

Men’s Singles

  • The last 17 years at Wimbledon have been dominated by the same four players: Federer (8), Djokovic (5), Nadal (2), Murray (2). The last winner at Wimbledon before them was Lleyton Hewitt in 2002.
  • Each of the last nine men’s titles at Wimbledon have been won by either Novak Djokovic (5), Roger Federer (2) or Andy Murray (2).
  • Since Wimbledon 2004, only one of the 68 Grand Slam tournaments has not seen at least one of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in the semi-final. It was at the US Open 2020.
  • Novak Djokovic has won four of the last six Wimbledon tournaments, including each of the last two; the last player to win more at Wimbledon in a row is Roger Federer between 2003 and 2007 (5).
  • Novak Djokovic is the only player to have won the first two Grand Slam tournaments of a calendar year in the last 25 years, doing it in 2016 and 2021. The last player to win the first three Grand Slam tournaments of a calendar year is Rod Laver during his Grand Slam in 1969.
Rod Laver wimbledon 1969
  • The 2019 final at Wimbledon was the first Grand Slam final to be decided by a final set tiebreak, with Novak Djokovic beating Roger Federer 7-3 in that tiebreak; it was also the longest final in Wimbledon history (4 hours 57 minutes).
  • No player has won Roland Garros and Wimbledon the same year since Rafael Nadal in 2010.
  • Lleyton Hewitt was the last non-European player to win at Wimbledon (2002). It’s the longest current run without a non-European winning among the four Grand Slam tournaments.
  • Roger Federer has won the title at Wimbledon eight times, the most among all players in Wimbledon’s history.
  • Roger Federer will aim to win his 21st Grand Slam tournament, becoming the outright leader in that ranking (currently level with Rafael Nadal, 20).
  • Daniil Medvedev has never passed the third round at Wimbledon but his three defeats there have all seen five sets. Medvedev has reached at least the quarter-finals in three of his last four Grand Slam tournaments, after reaching that stage in only one of his previous 13.
  • Stefano Tsitsipas has reached the semi-finals in his last three Grand Slam tournaments, after doing this only once in his previous 12; he has never reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon however.
  • Dominic Thiem is yet to miss a Grand Slam tournament since his debut at the Australian Open in 2014, Wimbledon being the only one he’s never made it past the fourth round in. He has failed to reach the quarter-finals in each of his last two Grand Slam tournaments but has not failed to do so in three consecutive tournaments since he played his first Grand Slam final, at Roland Garros in 2018.
  • Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam tournament where Alexander Zverev is yet to reach the quarter-final, his best result being the fourth-round in 2017. Since the beginning of 2020, he has reached the semi-finals in three Grand Slam tournaments, after never doing it in his previous 18 such tournaments.
  • Roberto Bautista Agut has played his only Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon, in 2019. He has won 71% of his games at Wimbledon, his best winning percentage in a Grand Slam tournament.
  • Three of the four quarter-finals played in a Grand Slam by Sam Querrey came at Wimbledon, including his only semi-final in a Grand Slam tournament (2017). Querrey was the only player with 100+ aces during Wimbledon 2019 (122).
  • Matteo Berrettini won his second ATP Final on grass earlier in June at the Queen’s Club Championship (also Stuttgart Open in 2019). The last player to complete the Queen’s Club-Wimbledon title double in the same year was Andy Murray in 2016.
  • Kei Nishikori has reached the quarter-finals in each of his last two Wimbledon outings, after never reaching that stage in his previous nine appearances in the tournament. Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam tournament where Nishikori has won fewer than 70% of his matches (66%).

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