By Chris Oddo | Sunday June 26, 2016

 

Who is the last man to win a Wimbledon singles title without dropping a set? This and more in our Wimbledon statisfaction.

Photo Source: AP
 

On the eve of Wimbledon 2016, we dip into the Wimbledon Compendium to come up with a cluster of obscure Wimbledon facts. What better way to spend a few hours at our desk as we twiddle our thumbs in anticipation of Day One?

1. The first two Wimbledon Men’s Singles trophies were taken home by winners -- The Field Cup (1887-1883) and the Challenge Cup (1884-1886) were to be taken home by three-time successive men’s singles champions in accordance with Wimbledon regulations. That didn’t work out so well for the tournament in the early days, as two of their precious trophies were done and dusted in the first decade. This forced Wimbledon’s hand. In 1887, a second Challenge Cup, purchased for 100 guineas, was introduced, with regulations that stated that the trophy “would never become the property of the winner.”

And that dear friends, is the end of the story and the beginning of the life of the second Challenge Cup that has now spanned 129 years.

2. Prize money has increased by quite a lot -- Wimbledon first offered prize money to its players at the beginning of the Open Era, in 1968. The men’s singles champion earned £2,000, while the first women’s singles champion earned £750. This year the men’s singles champion will earn £2,000,000, as will the women’s singles champion. The plummeting British pound isn’t great news here in England, but the champions should be okay, thank you very much.

3. Only one player has won more than 100 singles matches at Wimbledon -- Martina Navratilova, nine-time champion, finished her illustrious Wimbledon career with a 120-14 career record. Only three other players in the tournament’s history have played more than 100 matches (Evert, 111, King, 110 and Connors, 102).

4. Americans have won 89 of the 251 singles titles in Wimbledon history -- 33 American men have won Wimbledon, while 56 American women have won the ladies’ singles title. No other nation has done so well.

5. In the Open Era, only one male player has won Wimbledon without conceding a single set -- In 1976 Bjorn Borg did not drop a set (he also won 41 consecutive matches beginning in that year, also a record), winning 133 out of 2013 games and defeating Ile Nastase in the Wimbledon final.

6. Jennifer Capriati is the youngest player to ever compete in a Wimbledon singles match -- Capriati was 14 years and 90 days old when she played Wimbledon in 1990. She reached the round of 16 before falling to Steffi Graf.

7. The oldest singles participant at Wimbledon was 55 years old -- Major Ritchie played Wimbledon at the ripe age of 55 years and 227 days. Ritchie lost in the first round to Nigel Sharpe, but he’s more famously known as the last British man to win the Olympics before Andy Murray did it in 2012.

8. The last man to win Wimbledon coming from match points down did it 56 years ago -- In 1960, Neale Fraser of Australia defeated Butch Buchholz, 4-6, 6-3, 4-6, 15-15 ret’d in the quarterfinals, saving five match points in the fourth set. He later defeated Rod Laver in the final. Serena Williams is the last woman to win Wimbledon after facing a match point. She did it in 2009, saving the match point in the semis to get past Elena Dementieva.

9. Roger Federer has played the two longest finals in Wimbledon men’s singles history -- The Swiss maestro fell in the 2008 final to Rafael Nadal and it lasted four hours and 48 minutes. The very next year Federer was back to win the title, defeating Andy Roddick in four hours and 18 minutes.

10. Taylor Dent serves big  -- Taylor Dent holds the record for the fastest serve ever recorded at Wimbledon. He served 148 MPH in 2010. Venus Williams tops all women in the category, serving a 129-mph bomb in 2008 (serve speeds recorded only on Centre, 1, 2, 3 and 18).