Quarterfinals Preview

No. 2 Roger Federer (SUI) v No. 22 Ivo Karlovic (CRO)

No. 3 Andy Murray (GBR) v (WC) Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP)

No. 4 Novak Djokovic (SRB) v No. 24 Tommy Haas (GER)

No. 6 Andy Roddick (USA) v Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)
 

 

• Eight different nations are represented in the quarterfinals for the 2nd successive Slam. The last time that this happened at Wimbledon was in 2006. Spain has a player through to the quarterfinals of a 14th successive major, while Roger Federer is through to his 20th consecutive quarterfinal.

• There are 5 Grand Slam champions: Federer, Djokovic, Roddick, Hewitt and Ferrero – the first time here since 1993 when there were 6 in the quarterfinals here and the first time at any Slam since the 2005 Australian Open, when 5 Grand Slam champions also advanced to the quarters.

• Federer, Roddick, Hewitt and Ferrero have all been ranked No. 1 in the world – the first time since 1993 Wimbledon that four former world No. 1s have advanced to the quarterfinals here, and the first time at any Slam since there were 5 players to have ranked No. 1 in the 2005 Australian Open quarterfinals.

• Djokovic and Ferrero are the only 2 of the quarterfinalists not to have won a grasscourt title. Djokovic has reached 2 finals on the surface while Ferrero reached his first semifinal at Queen’s 3 weeks ago. Murray (Queen’s) and Haas (Halle) have won grasscourt titles this year.

• Karlovic is the only first-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist and along with Haas is playing his first Wimbledon quarterfinal today.

• 31-year-old Haas is the oldest player remaining in the draw, and 22-year-old Djokovic the youngest, by one week from Murray. There are two over-30s in the quarterfinals here for the 2nd year running.

• Three of today’s matches are repeats of match-ups from earlier in the grasscourt season – Murray defeated Ferrero and Roddick defeated Hewitt at Queen’s while Haas upset Djokovic in the Halle final.
 

 

Head-to-head: Federer leads 8-1
2004 Wimbledon Grass (O) R16 Federer 63 76 76
2004 Gstaad Clay (O) R16 Federer 67 63 76
2007 AMS Montreal Hard (O) R32 Federer 76 76
2007 Basel Hard (I) SF Federer 76 76
2007 AMS Paris Hard (I) R32 Federer 63 46 63
2008 AMS Rome Clay (O) R16 Federer 76 63
2008 AMS Cincinnati Hard (O) R16 Karlovic 76 46 76
2009 Indian Wells-1000 Hard (O) R32 Federer 76 63
2009 Rome-1000 Clay (O) R32 Federer 64 64

This is only the pair’s second Grand Slam meeting, Federer winning at 2004 Wimbledon in their first-ever match-up. This was also their only previous meeting on grass.

Their nine previous matches have featured 12 tiebreaks out of 22 sets played. Federer has the better tiebreak record of their pair winning 66% of his career tiebreaks, compared with 51% by Karlovic.

Karlovic has contested every Slam since 2003 Wimbledon (25 Slams), where Federer collected the first of his 14 Grand Slam titles. Federer is playing his 39th consecutive major. Only 6 other men have contested each of the last 25 Slams: Fabrice Santoro, Tommy Robredo, Fernando Gonzalez, Feliciano Lopez, David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco.
 

 

• FEDERER is contesting his 25th career Grand Slam quarterfinal. He is bidding to reach his 21st consecutive Grand Slam semifinal and improve his all-time record of 20 successive semfinals. His last defeat before the semifinals came at 2004 Roland Garros, where he lost in the 3rd round. Ivan Lendl and Rod Laver are next in the list with 10 consecutive Grand Slam semifinal appearances.

• By reaching the quarterfinals, Federer has joined Ivan Lendl on 48 match wins at Wimbledon, the joint-8th most victories at Wimbledon in the Open Era. If he wins today, he will move alongside Stefan Edberg and Goran Ivanisevic into equal 6th place with 49 wins.

• Overall, Federer sits in 5th place for Open Era Grand Slam match wins. He is bidding for his 180th today. He trails Jimmy Connors (233), Andre Agassi (224), Ivan Lendl (222) and Pete Sampras (203).

• Federer, champion in 2003-07, is bidding to win his 6th title here and become just the 3rd player to win at least 6, behind William Renshaw and Pete Sampras, who both went on to win 7 titles.

• Federer’s 5 victories in the final here were over Mark Philippoussis (2003), Andy Roddick (2004-05) and Rafael Nadal (2006-07).

• In missing out on the title here last year to Rafael Nadal, Federer’s record winning streak of 65 matches on grass came to an end. Prior to that final, his last loss on grass had been in 2002, to Mario Ancic in the 1st round here.

• After winning his 14th Grand Slam title at this year’s Roland Garros (d. Robin Soderling), equalling Pete Sampras’s all-time record, Federer is bidding to become the first man in history to win 15 Grand Slam titles.

• Federer chose not to play a grasscourt warm-up event ahead of Wimbledon this year. Since making his Wimbledon debut in 1999, this is only the second time he has come here straight off the claycourt season, having also done so in 2007 when he won his last Wimbledon title. He is the only one of the quarterfinalists not to have played on grass this year before playing at Wimbledon.

• Federer owns 10 grasscourt titles and shares the Open Era record of 10 with Sampras. In addition to Wimbledon, his other 5 titles were won at 2003-06 and 2008 Halle.

• Federer has reached at least the semifinals in 7 of his 8 tournaments contested so far this season, and has won his last 2 tournaments, Madrid-1000 and Roland Garros.

• Having won his last 16 matches, Federer is enjoying his longest match winning streak since summer 2007, when he won 18 in a row by winning AMS Cincinnati, US Open, two matches in the Davis Cup World Group play-offs and reaching the final at AMS Madrid.

• Federer has a winning head-to-head against both of his potential opponents in the next round and has defeated both of them this year already. He is 7-4 against Novak Djokovic, although he has lost their last two meetings, and 9-2 against Tommy Haas, winning the last 8. Federer has also lost at least once to the four players in the other half of the draw.

• For the first time since 2003 Wimbledon, when he was seeded 4th, Federer was not the top seed here. However following Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal through injury, he was the highest seeded player in the draw.

• Despite the absence of Nadal this year, Federer can only regain the No. 1 ranking if he wins the title.

• Federer is without a permanent coach but is here, as customary at Grand Slam tournaments, with Swiss Davis Cup captain Severin Luthi.

• KARLOVIC has reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal in his 25th Grand Slam event. His previous best Grand Slam performance was reaching the round of 16 at Wimbledon in 2004.

• Prior to this year’s Wimbledon, Karlovic had lost in the 1st round at Wimbledon for the past 4 years.

• Karlovic has not dropped serve in his first four matches, winning all 79 of his service games. He has only faced 4 break points. (Since IBM records began in 1992, Pete Sampras is the champion to have dropped serve the fewest number of times, dropping serve twice in 1997).

• Karlovic has served a total of 137 aces in his first four matches, including 46 aces in his third round victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He broke the record* for most aces served in a match at 2009 Roland Garros, serving 55 aces in his 1st round loss to Lleyton Hewitt (*since the ATP began keeping records in 1991). Karlovic also holds the Wimbledon record with 51 aces served against Daniele Bracciali in the 1st round in 2005. He has been the tour aces leader for the past 2 years and is leading the way again in 2009. (Goran Ivanisevic holds the Wimbledon record for the highest total number of aces, serving 212 aces en route to the title in 2001.)

• If Karlovic reaches the semifinals, he will take on either Novak Djokovic or Tommy Haas. He is level at 1-1 with Djokovic in head-to-head meetings, and leads Haas 4-1.

• Karlovic is bidding to become the 3rd different Croatian to reach the Wimbledon semifinals after his childhood idol Goran Ivanisevic, who won the title in 2001, and Mario Ancic, who reached the semifinals in 2004. He is also bidding to become the first Croatian semifinalist at a Grand Slam event since Ivan Ljubicic at 2006 Roland Garros.

• Karlovic is 1 of 2 ‘over-30s’ to reach the men’s quarterfinals, along with Tommy Haas, the 2nd year in a row that this has happened at Wimbledon.

• Karlovic is 1 of 4 men in the quarterfinals to own at least 2 grasscourt titles, 2007-08 Nottingham, along with Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick. He also reached the final at 2005 Queen’s, losing to Roddick.

• Karlovic’s round of 16 victory over Fernando Verdasco marked the first time in his career that he has defeated two Top 10 players at one tournament. His career record over Top 10 players now stands at 12-26.

• For only the 2nd time in 6 years, Karlovic chose not to play a grasscourt warm-up event in the week immediately before Wimbledon. He explained in his third round post-match interview that coming into Wimbledon straight out of a tournament had hindered his preparation for the event in previous years. Karlovic did play the grass court warm-up event at Queen’s 3 weeks ago, losing to Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals.

• Karlovic has reached one tour semifinal this year, at Belgrade in May, but only needed to win 2 matches after a 1st round bye.
 

 

NO. 3 ANDY MURRAY (GBR) v (WC) JUAN CARLOS FERRERO (ESP)

Head-to-head: Murray leads 1-0
2009 Queen’s Grass (O) SF Murray 62 64
 

 

• By reaching the quarterfinals, MURRAY has matched his best performance at Wimbledon. He did so by defeating Stanislas Wawrinka in five sets in the latest finish in Wimbledon history. It was the first full match to be played with the Centre Court roof closed, and was completed at 10:38 on Monday evening. The previous latest Wimbledon finish was in 1981, when a women’s doubles match featuring Sue Barker and Ann Kiyomura against JoAnne Russell and Virginia Ruzici was stopped at 9:35pm due to bad light with the score at 5-5 in the final set.

• Since reaching the 3rd round on his Wimbledon debut in 2005, Murray has improved one round further on each subsequent visit to his quarterfinal finish last year (l. Rafael Nadal 63 62 64), and will keep this pattern going if he reaches the semis. (He missed 2007 with a wrist injury).

• As well as bidding to reach his first Wimbledon semifinal today, Murray is looking for his 200th match win.

• Murray is bidding to become only the third different British man to reach the Wimbledon semifinals in the Open Era. The last Briton to reach the semifinals was Tim Henman, who reached the last of his 4 semifinals in 2002. Roger Taylor twice reached the semifinals, in 1970 and 1973, having also played pre-Open Era.

• If Murray reaches the semifinals, it will be on his 4th attempt here. Tim Henman reached his first Wimbledon semifinal on his 5th attempt in 1998. Roger Taylor, who also competed in the pre-Open Era, reached his first Wimbledon semifinal on his 8th attempt in 1967.

• Murray was the only British player to progress beyond the second round of the men’s and women’s singles. On all four occasions he has contested Wimbledon, he has been the only British man or woman to survive the first two rounds.

• Murray has reached the quarterfinals in 4 of his last 5 Slams, including his career best runner-up finish at the 2008 US Open (l. Roger Federer). At this year’s Roland Garros, he fell in the quarterfinals to Fernando Gonzalez 63 36 60 64.

• At last year’s US Open, Murray became the 3rd British player to reach a Grand Slam final in the Open Era, after John Lloyd at the 1977 Australian Open (grass) and Greg Rusedski at the 1997 US Open.

• A win today would put Murray in sole possession of second place for most match wins this season, still behind fellow quarterfinalist Novak Djokovic but taking him ahead of Rafael Nadal. Murray currently has a 44-6 record for 2009, Novak Djokovic stands at 47-13 and Nadal at 44-5.

• Murray has a 24-12 career record against Spaniards, and is currently on a three-match winning streak against the nation, through his defeat of Ferrero at Queen’s. His record versus Spaniards at Grand Slams is 4-4, and he lost his only previous match-up with a Spaniard at Wimbledon, falling to Rafael Nadal in last year’s quarterfinals. Ferrero is one of 14 different Spaniards that Murray has faced in his career. Murray was based in Spain (Barcelona) for two and a half years from the age of 15.

• Murray reached a career-high ranking of No. 3 on 11 May 2009, the first British man to be ranked in the Top 3 since rankings began in 1973. He could take the No. 2 ranking from Roger Federer under the following scenarios:
i) If Federer loses today and Murray reaches the final
ii) If Federer reaches the semifinals, Murray must win the title

If Murray wins the title, he will be just 5 points short of Rafael Nadal’s No. 1 ranking when the new rankings are released on Monday 6 July.

• If he is to win the title here, Murray will have to beat at least two Grand Slam champions, and possibly three. If he defeats 2003 Roland Garros champion Ferrero today, he would face either Andy Roddick (2003 US Open) or Lleyton Hewitt (2001 US Open, 2002 Wimbledon) in the semifinals. His final opponent could be 14-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer, or 2008 Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic. Last year here, Federer faced three Grand Slam champions, defeating Hewitt in the round of 16 and Marat Safin in the semifinals before falling to Nadal in the final.

• Murray has a winning head-to-head against both of his potential semifinal opponents, Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick. He leads Roddick 6-2, having won their last three match-ups, and defeated Hewitt in their lone meeting in the 2006 San Jose final to claim his first career title.

• Looking ahead to a possible semifinal meeting with either Hewitt or Roddick, who are both former world No. 1s, Murray’s record versus the No. 1 player is 4-3. The No. 1s that Murray has faced are either Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer. Murray’s record against Top 10 players is 29-23.

• Murray is seeded No. 3 here, equalling the highest seeding for a British player at Wimbledon in the Open Era – Roger Taylor was also No. 3 at 1973 Wimbledon.

• Murray celebrated his 22nd birthday last month and is the second-youngest player left in the men’s draw. He is a week older than No. 4 seed Novak Djokovic.

• Murray warmed up for Wimbledon by winning his first grasscourt title at Queen’s. He defeated James Blake in the final to become the first British winner there since Bunny Austin in 1938. Boris Becker and Rafael Nadal are, so far, the only men in the Open Era to have won their first grasscourt title at Queen’s and then won their first Wimbledon 3 weeks later.

• In the Open Era, 9 Queen’s champions have gone on to win the Wimbledon title.

• Murray was 1 of 14 men starting at 2009 Wimbledon to have already won a grasscourt tournament, 6 of whom have reached quarterfinals. [See pg. 4 of the Preview for more details.]

• Queen’s was Murray’s 12th career title and 4th this year, having also won 3 hardcourt titles at Doha, Rotterdam (indoor) and Miami-1000. Only Rafael Nadal has won more titles this year on the tour.

• Murray is coached by Miles Maclagan. His fitness trainers are Jez Green and Matt Little, and physio Andy Ireland.

• Wildcard FERRERO has reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the 2nd time in 3 years. He is bidding for his first Wimbledon semifinal in his 9th appearance here. Only 2 men (Jonas Bjorkman – 13 appearances, Rainer Schuettler – 10) have made more Wimbledon appearances in the Open Era before reaching their first semifinal.

• Ferrero is bidding for his first Grand Slam semifinal since the 2004 Australian Open. He has made 6 previous Grand Slam semifinal appearances, and is looking to complete a set of Grand Slam semifinal appearances.

• Ferrero is only the 3rd wildcard to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Pat Cash lost in the quarterfinals in 1986, while Goran Ivanisevic went on to win the title in 2001.

• The last wildcard to reach the quarterfinals of any Grand Slam was James Blake at the 2005 US Open, where he lost at this stage to Andre Agassi after holding a two-set lead.

• Ferrero is bidding to become just the fourth wildcard to reach a Grand Slam semifinal. He would join Jimmy Connors (1991 US Open), Henri Leconte (1992 Roland Garros) and Ivanisevic. Ivanisevic is the only wildcard to go on to a Grand Slam final.

• Against British players, Ferrero has a 4-4 career record. Before facing Murray at Queen’s last month, he hadn’t played a Brit for more than two years (having defeated Tim Henman at 2007 Monte Carlo).

• Ferrero previously reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2007 (l. Roger Federer), completing a set of quarterfinal appearances at all four Grand Slams. Last year he was forced to retire in the 2nd round with a hamstring injury, trailing Mischa Zverev 64 64 2-1.

• This is 29-year-old Ferrero’s 37th major. He was the 2003 Roland Garros champion and also a runner-up at 2002 Roland Garros and the 2003 US Open, as well as a former world No. 1. Ferrero was ranked No. 1 for a total of 8 weeks at the end of 2003.

• By reaching the quarterfinals, Ferrero has extended Spain’s run of Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances to 14 consecutive majors. The last Slam where there was no Spanish quarterfinalist was the 2006 Australian Open. This is also the 5th successive year a Spanish man has reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

• Ferrero’s wins over Gonzalez and Simon in his last 2 matches here were his first back-to-back wins over Top 10 players since he defeated 3 Top 10 players at 2006 Cincinnati. He has a 38-50 win-loss record overall.

• Ferrero won his first title for over 5 years at Casablanca in April, defeating Florent Serra in the final. His best result since then is reaching his first ever grasscourt semifinal at 2009 Queen’s (losing to today’s opponent Murray).

• If Ferrero reaches the semifinals, he will face either Andy Roddick or Lleyton Hewitt, both also former world No. 1s and Grand Slam champions. He has lost all 5 meetings with Roddick, and trails Hewitt 6-3.

• At No. 70, Ferrero is the lowest-ranked player in the quarterfinals. He was ranked No. 115 at the time of the 2009 Wimbledon entry cut-off on 11 May and needed a wildcard to play here. By reaching the quarterfinals, he is expected to return to the Top 40. If he reaches the semifinals, he is projected to return to the Top 35.

• If he does progress to the semifinals, Ferrero will not be the lowest-ranked player to reach the last 4 at Wimbledon. Schuettler was ranked No. 94 when he reached the semis here last year
 

 

NO. 4 NOVAK DJOKOVIC (SRB) v NO. 24 TOMMY HAAS (GER)

Head-to-head: Djokovic leads 2-1
2006 Roland Garros Clay (O) R32 Djokovic 75 61 76
2009 Indian Wells-1000 Hard (O) R32 Djokovic 62 76
2009 Halle Grass (O) FR Haas 63 67 61

Haas scored his first victory against Djokovic 3 weeks ago in the final at Halle as he collected his first grasscourt title. This is their 3rd meeting this year.

Haas is the oldest of the eight quarterfinalists and is more than 9 years older than Djokovic, who is the youngest man remaining.
 

 

• DJOKOVIC is through to his 2nd Wimbledon quarterfinal and is today bidding to reach his 2nd semifinal here, and his first at a Grand Slam this year.

• Djokovic reached his first Wimbledon semifinal in 2007 (l. Rafael Nadal). Last year, he suffered his earliest defeat at Wimbledon, losing in the 2nd round to Marat Safin 64 76 62.

• Djokovic won his only major to date at the 2008 Australian Open, defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final.
He is 1 of 5 Grand Slam champions through to the quarterfinals, along with Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt and Juan Carlos Ferrero.

• If Djokovic wins today he will face either No. 2 Roger Federer or Ivo Karlovic in the semifinals. He trails Federer 7-4 in previous meetings but has won his last 2. He is tied 1-1 with Karlovic. He has never met either player on grass.

• Djokovic was ranked No. 3 for all but one week from 9 July 2007 to 11 May this year. He would need to win the title here and Andy Murray fail to reach the final to regain the No. 3 ranking. If he went on to win Wimbledon, Djokovic could also become World No. 2 provided Roger Federer loses today and Murray doesn’t reach the final.

• Djokovic suffered his first-ever defeat to a German player at this year’s Roland Garros, his loss to Philipp Kohlschreiber in the 3rd round there ending a run of 14 victories against Germans. He then suffered a 2nd defeat when losing to Haas in the final at Halle. His defeat of Simon Greul in the 2nd round here brings his record against the nation to 15-2.

• Djokovic warmed up for Wimbledon at Halle, where he lost to Haas in the final. This was the 2nd grasscourt final of his career, having lost to Rafael Nadal in the 2008 Queen’s final.

• Djokovic has won 2 titles this year – at Dubai (hard) and Belgrade (clay) – and finished runner-up 4 times (Miami-1000, Monte Carlo-1000, Rome-1000 and Halle).

• Djokovic currently leads the tour for match wins. Ahead of today’s match, he has a 47-13 win-loss record in 2009, 3 wins ahead of Rafael Nadal (44-5) and Andy Murray (44-6).

• Djokovic has won 13 career titles, 9 on hard court and 4 on clay.

• Djokovic has been coached by Marian Vajda since June 2006.

• HAAS is through to his first Wimbledon quarterfinal in his 11th appearance here. His previous best result here was reaching the round of 16 in 2007 before withdrawing with a torn stomach muscle, handing Roger Federer a walkover.

• This is Haas’s 7th Grand Slam quarterfinal, and his first since the 2007 US Open. Overall, he has reached this stage 3 times at both the Australian Open, winning all 3 and the US Open, losing all 3.

• Haas’s best Grand Slam result is 3 semifinal finishes at the Australian Open (1999, 2002, 2007).

• Haas is bidding to be the first German Grand Slam semifinalist since Rainer Schuettler at last year’s Wimbledon. Schuettler was the 3rd German man to reach the last four at Wimbledon in the Open Era after Boris Becker and Michael Stich.

• With Haas’s countrywoman Sabine Lisicki also reaching the women’s quarterfinals (playing Tuesday), this marks the first Grand Slam since the 2000 US Open that a German man and a German woman have advanced to the quarterfinals at the same major.

• If Haas reaches the semifinals, he will face Roger Federer or Ivo Karlovic. He has a losing head-to-head record against both players, trailing Federer 9-2 and Karlovic 4-1.

• Haas’s victory over Djokovic in the Halle final 3 weeks ago was his first victory against a Top 10 player since 2007 AMS Indian Wells, ending a 9-match losing streak in such matches.

• Haas, aged 31 years 3 months, is the oldest quarterfinalist. If he wins today, he will become the 21st man aged 30 or over to reach the Wimbledon semifinals in the Open Era.

• Haas needed 2 days to win both his 1st and 3rd round matches, after both were suspended due to bad light. He saved 2 match points in his 3rd round victory over Marin Cilic, which at 4 hours 28 minutes is the longest match of the tournament so far. In his 2nd round match, his opponent Michael Llodra retired, trailing 4-3, with an abdominal injury to his left side after colliding with the umpire’s chair 2 games earlier.

• Haas plays here ranked No. 34, his highest ranking since 25 February 2008. By reaching the quarterfinals, he is projected to return to the Top 30. If he wins today and advances to the semifinals, he could return to the Top 20 for the first time since January 2008.

• Haas is seeded No. 24 but was originally unseeded, moving up when Gael Monfils withdrew with a wrist injury.

• Haas arrived here having won his first grasscourt title at 2009 Halle. It was his 12th career title but his first since 2007 Memphis. Haas is one of the 6 quarterfinalists to have won a grasscourt title.

• Haas’s other highlights of the year are quarterfinal finishes at San Jose (indoor hard) and Houston (clay).
 

 

NO. 6 ANDY RODDICK (USA) v LLEYTON HEWITT (AUS)

Head-to-head: Hewitt leads 6-5
2001 AMS Miami Hard (O) QF Hewitt 63 62
2001 Roland Garros Clay (O) R32 Hewitt 67 64 22 ret. (left hamstring)
2001 US Open Hard (O) QF Hewitt 67 63 64 36 64
2004 Queen’s Grass (O) SF Roddick 76 63
2004 Tennis Masters Cup Hard (O) SF Hewitt 63 62
2005 Australian Open Hard (O) SF Hewitt 36 76 76 61
2005 AMS Indian Wells Hard (O) SF Hewitt 76 67 76
2005 Cincinnati Hard (O) SF Roddick 64 76
2006 US Open Hard (O) QF Roddick 63 75 64
2009 Memphis Hard (I) SF Roddick 26 76 64
2009 Queen’s Grass (O) R16 Roddick 76 76

Although Hewitt leads their head-to-head series, Roddick has won their last 4 meetings, as well as both of their previous matches on grass, including their most recent one at Queen’s 3 weeks ago.

Hewitt is the leading active player in terms of match wins on grass (93-22), ahead of Federer (85-12) and Roddick (67-14). (This has been incorrectly stated in Roddick’s previous notes.)
 

 

• 2004-05 runner-up RODDICK is through to his 5th Wimbledon quarterfinal and is bidding to reach his 4th semifinal here.

• Roddick lost his last Wimbledon quarterfinal in 2007 to Richard Gasquet after winning the first two sets. He won on his first 3 quarterfinal appearances here, going on to record his best results in 2004-05, when he lost to Roger Federer in the final on both occasions.

• Last year Roddick suffered his earliest exit here, falling in the 2nd round to Janko Tipsarevic.

• Roddick celebrated his 100th Grand Slam match win in the 2nd round. His victory over Tomas Berdych brings his Grand Slam win-loss record to 102-32, placing him equal 18th on the list of Open Era Grand Slam match wins.

• Roddick won his lone Grand Slam title at the 2003 US Open, defeating Ferrero in the final. He could meet Ferrero again in the semifinals here. Roddick is 1 of 5 Grand Slam champions through to this year’s quarterfinals, along with Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt, Ferrero and Novak Djokovic.

• 2009 Wimbledon is the 22nd major since Roddick’s triumph at the 2003 US Open, the longest gap between Grand Slam triumphs for US men in the Open Era. The longest gap in history between American Grand Slam success is the 31 majors that elapsed between Tony Trabert’s 1955 US Open success and Chuck McKinley’s victory at 1963 Wimbledon.

• Roddick is the only American man to reach the round of 16 or better here in the last 4 years.

• If Roddick defeats Hewitt today, his semifinal opponent will be either Andy Murray, whom he trails 6-2, or Juan Carlos Ferrero, who he has defeated in all 5 previous meetings.

• Roddick is currently ranked No. 6, and would have to go on to win the tournament to return to the Top 5, where he was last ranked on 12 November 2007.

• All 4 of Roddick’s grasscourt titles were won at Queen’s, in 2003-05 and 2007. He reached the semifinals there again 3 weeks ago in his only pre-Wimbledon event.

• Roddick’s best results this year are winning the title at Memphis (d. Radek Stepanek), a runner-up finish at Doha (l. Andy Murray) and reaching 4 other semifinals, including at the Australian Open.

• Roddick has won a total of 27 singles titles, equal with today’s opponent Hewitt and behind only Rafael Nadal (36) and Roger Federer (59) among active players. He has won at least 1 title every year since winning his first at 2001 Atlanta.

• Roddick is coached by Larry Stefanki. This is their first Wimbledon working together.

• 2002 champion HEWITT is through to his 5th Wimbledon quarterfinal and is bidding to reach the last four here for the 3rd time.

• Hewitt has advanced to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal in almost 3 years, having last done so at the 2006 US Open, which was the last time an Aussie man reached the last 8 at a major. The last time Hewitt reached the quarterfinals here was in 2006, when as No. 6 seed, he fell to Marcos Baghdatis.

• Hewitt is attempting to reach the semifinals at a major for the first time since the 2005 US Open, where he was in the last four for his 4th major in a row. (He missed 2005 Roland Garros.) He has contested 14 majors since then, including this one.

• Hewitt came back from 0-2 down for the 6th time in his career to defeat No. 23 seed Radek Stepanek in the round of 16. He now has the highest total of 0-2 comebacks of any active player and is in equal 10th place amongst all players in the Open Era.

• Hewitt’s victory over del Potro in the 2nd round ended a run of 15 consecutive defeats against Top 10 players. He is today bidding to win back-to-back matches against Top 10 players for the first time since 2006 Queen’s, where he went on to win the title.

• Hewitt’s victory against del Potro also ended a 12-match losing streak against Top 10 players at Grand Slam tournaments. His slide started with his loss to Safin in the final of the 2005 Australian Open. Until then Hewitt was 7-7 against the Top 10 at majors. In the 7 majors that he contested in 2004-05, Hewitt lost to the eventual champion on each occasion.

• Hewitt and Roger Federer were the two Wimbledon champions to start in this year’s men’s draw and both have advanced to the quarterfinals. Hewitt defeated David Nalbandian in the 2002 final. Hewitt also won the 2001 US Open, defeating Pete Sampras in the final.

• If Hewitt defeats Roddick today, he will advance to a semifinal meeting with either No. 3 Andy Murray, to whom he lost in their only previous meeting, or Juan Carlos Ferrero, who he leads 6-3 in their head-to-head.

• Hewitt was the only Australian to start in the men’s draw, the lowest Aussie representation in men’s Grand Slam Open Era history. He is unseeded here for the first time since 1999.

• Hewitt warmed up for Wimbledon at Queen’s, where he has won the title 4 times in 2000-02 and 2006. This year, he lost in the 3rd round to today’s opponent Roddick. Hewitt’s 2002 Queen’s-Wimbledon double is 1 of 9 in the Open Era.

• Hewitt owns 6 grasscourt titles in total, having also won 2001 ’s-Hertogenbosch, and is in joint-6th place with Bjorn Borg and Mark Edmondson on the list of grasscourt title leaders in the Open Era. Federer is the only active player to have won more, with 10.

• Having struggled with a hip injury in 2008, undergoing surgery at the end of August, former world No. 1 Hewitt dropped out of the Top 100 in February this year for the first time since January 1999. In reaching the quarterfinals, he is expected to return to the Top 45 for the first time since 11 August 2008. If he wins today, he is projected to climb back into the Top 35.

• Hewitt won his first title for 2 years at Houston this year, defeating Wayne Odesnik in the final. His next best result to date was a semifinal finish at Memphis (hard).

• Hewitt has won a total of 27 singles titles, equal with today’s opponent Roddick, and among active players, behind only Rafael Nadal (36) and Roger Federer (59). 2008 was the first year since 1997 that Hewitt did not win at least 1 title.
 

Gianluca Comuniello