5 things at Wimbledon : newcomers vs half of big 4

By HOWARD FENDRICH At 35 of the past 37 Grand Slam tournaments, a member of tennis’ so-called “Big 4” – Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray – won the championship. The quartet’s dominance is even more pronounced at Wimbledon: They’ve collected the last 11 titles, seven for Federer. For nine years in … Read more

Murray’s Wimbledon reign ended by Dimitrov

LONDON (Reuters) – Grigor Dimitrov broke British hearts, ending Andy Murray’s reign as Wimbledon champion with a sublime and serene 6-1 7-6(4) 6-2 victory in the quarter-finals on Wednesday. The third seed had confidently marched into the last eight without dropping a set but his meek abdication on Wednesday left the Centre Court crowd, which … Read more

Murray puts down a marker as seeds stumble

By Martyn Herman LONDON (Reuters) – The champagne cork that popped in the first game of Andy Murray’s thrashing of Blaz Rola may have been premature, but the defending Wimbledon champion has already thrown down the gauntlet to his rivals. Fans toasted the home favourite as he arrived on Court One for his second round … Read more

Murray seeded third for Wimbledon defence

LONDON (Reuters) – Briton Andy Murray will be seeded third when he attempts to defend his Wimbledon title, while Novak Djokovic has been installed ahead of world number one Rafael Nadal as top seed for the grass-court major. Murray became the first Briton to win the men’s singles title since 1936 when he beat Serbian … Read more

Murray could face Djokovic in Wimbledon semis

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN The draw for Wimbledon was relatively kind to defending champion Andy Murray. It was a lot more daunting for top-ranked Rafael Nadal. Murray, who last year became the first British man to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936, was drawn Friday to open the defense of his title against 104th-ranked David … Read more

Nadal holds onto no. 1; Sharapova up to no. 5

Rafael Nadal has held onto the ATP’s No. 1 ranking thanks to his ninth French Open title. Maria Sharapova’s second trophy at Roland Garros moved her up three spots to No. 5 on the WTA list Monday. If Nadal had lost Sunday’s final to No. 2 Novak Djokovic, they would have swapped places in the … Read more

Nadal on cloud nine after soaring to new heights

By Pritha Sarkar PARIS (Reuters) – One man’s despair was another man’s ecstasy as the most inopportune of double faults propelled a world-beating Rafa Nadal into a nine-times French Open champion on Sunday. Waiting to launch into a second serve on match point down, a yell from the stands, followed by another, left a distracted … Read more