Nobody can stop Roger Federer on grass. Number one got even against number two as Federer ended a five-match losing streak to Rafael Nadal on Sunday, winning 6-0, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (2), 6-3 to earn his fourth straight Wimbledon title and eighth Grand Slam championship. Nadal had beaten Federer in four finals this year, including at the French Open last month, but couldn’t match him on the Swiss star’s favourite surface.
Amelie Mauresmo became the first Frenchwoman in 81 years to win the Wimbledon singles title when she conquered a severe bout of stagefright to beat Belgium’s Justine Henin-Hardenne 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday. The 27-year-old’s victory was also her second career Grand Slam victory and was the first step towards what could be a memorable weekend for French sport with France facing Italy in the World Cup final in Berlin on Sunday.
Justine Henin-Hardenne is one victory away from a career grand slam. Henin-Hardenne defeated fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters 6-4, 7-6 (4) on Thursday to reach the Wimbledon final and close in on the one major title missing from her collection. She will face Amelie Mauresmo on Saturday, who beat Maria Sharapova 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
The Wimbledon seeding committee got this one just right. The top four seeded players have advanced to the women’s semifinals at Wimbledon. It’s only the fifth time in 25 years that the semis have featured the elite four. On Thursday, 2004 champion Sharapova will play Mauresmo, and Clijsters will face Henin-Hardenne in the 20th career match between the Belgian rivals.
Wimbledon semifinalist Kim Clijsters believes China’s history-making Li Na has all the weapons to shoot her into the world’s elite. The Belgian defeated Li 6-4, 7-5 on Tuesday to reach the last four at the All England Club, but Li wasn’t disgraced and had plenty to be pleased about having become the first Chinese player to make the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam.
Dmitry Tursunov expects he’ll be fined for an outburst during his fourth-round loss at Wimbledon on Monday. If not, a few things the Russian said in his news conference — such as calling the chair umpire an ”idiot” — should do the trick. After losing his service in the 15th game of the fifth set to give Jarkko Nieminen an 8-7 lead, Tursunov hit a ball in anger towards chair umpire Fergus Murphy.
It has all the ingredients for a classic match-up. Two of the biggest names in tennis. The ageing former champion playing in his final Wimbledon versus the young dynamo trying to make his breakthrough on grass. The bald, pigeon-toed American versus the long-maned, biceps-bulging Spaniard.
Ruthless Roger Federer crushed Tim Henman’s Wimbledon dream for another year on Wednesday while Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams were so merciless that they seriously undermined their equal prize money campaign. Federer, bidding for a fourth successive title, destroyed Henman 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 in just 84 minutes to notch up his 43rd consecutive grass court win.
Andre Agassi is trying not to let emotions get the better of him as he plays his 14th — and final — Wimbledon. ”I don’t need this championship to give me any more than it’s given me,” the 36-year-old former champion said after a four-set opening-round victory on Tuesday. ”It’s already given me so much.”
Designers have been using the latest materials and technology to improve tennis rackets for decades. Now, some are looking back a couple of millennia to Roman civilisation for inspiration. Prince, which has been making rackets for 30 years, has expanded the traditional pin-size string holes on the rim into ovals — a design based on the principal of the arch.
An ominous development for the rest of the men’s field at Wimbledon: Marat Safin is beginning to find his footing on grass. The mercurial Russian overcame his career-long aversion to lawn tennis on Monday and beat Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand 6-2, 6-4, 6-4.