Friday, June 3, 2016
Semifinals
No. 1 Novak Djokovic (SRB) v No. 13 Dominic Thiem (AUT)
No. 2 Andy Murray (GBR) v No. 3 Stan Wawrinka (SUI)
A look at the semifinalists…
Player Country Age Ranking Best Roland Garros performance Best Grand Slam performance
No. 1 Novak Djokovic SRB 29 1 RU 2012, 2014, 2015 11 titles
No. 2 Andy Murray GBR 29 2 SF 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016 2 titles
No. 3 Stan Wawrinka SUI 31 4 W 2015 2 titles
No. 13 Dominic Thiem AUT 22 15 SF 2016 SF 2016 Roland Garros
• Novak Djokovic will look to keep his hopes of completing his Grand Slam set alive by defeating Dominic Thiem for a place in his 20th Grand Slam final. Thiem is looking for his first victory over the world No. 1 as he looks to continue his run at what has been his breakthrough Grand Slam.
• Andy Murray, meanwhile, is seeking to end a 3-match losing streak against Stan Wawrinka and become the first British man to reach the Roland Garros final since Bunny Austin in 1937. If he is to achieve the feat, he will also have to end a 6-match losing streak against Top 4 opposition at the majors.
• Defending champion Wawrinka is hoping to remain on course to successfully retain his Roland Garros title. Just 8 men have successfully defended the title here in the Open Era.
• Murray has spent the most time on court of the 4 semifinalists with 15 hours 15 minutes of match time under his belt so far at this year’s Roland Garros, while Djokovic, despite several interruptions to his matches due to rain, has been on court for the least amount of time at just 11 hours 6 minutes.
NO. 1 NOVAK DJOKOVIC (SRB) v NO. 13 DOMINIC THIEM (AUT)
Head-to-head: Djokovic leads 2-0
2014 Shanghai-1000 Hard (O) R32 Djokovic 63 64
2016 Miami-1000 Hard (O) R16 Djokovic 63 64
A 3rd career meeting between the 2 players but their first at a Grand Slam.
Thiem has never taken a set off Djokovic.
Djokovic has not lost to a player ranked as low as No. 15 Thiem at a Grand Slam since losing to No. 27 Jurgen Melzer in the quarterfinals here in 2010.
Possible final head-to-heads
Murray Wawrinka
Djokovic 23-10 19-4
Thiem 0-2 1-2
DJOKOVIC v THIEM
29 Age 22
6’2”/1.88m Height 6’1”/1.85m
1 ATP Ranking 15
64 Titles 6
219-34 Career Grand Slam Record 16-9
11 titles Best Grand Slam result Roland Garros semifinalist 2016
53-11 Roland Garros Record 7-2
728-149 Career Record 105-68
175-43 Career Record – Clay 59-23
42-3 2016 Record 41-10
14-2 2016 Record – Clay 25-5
27-8 Career Five-Set Record 2-2
4 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 1
200-112 Career Tiebreak Record 45-43
12-2 2016 Tiebreak Record 15-9
Road to the Semifinals
DJOKOVIC Time Time THIEM
d. Yen-Hsun Lu 64 61 61
d. (Q) Steve Darcis 75 63 64 1:30
2:17 1st round
2nd round 2:38
2:25 d. Inigo Cervantes 36 62 75 61
d. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 75 64 76(3)
d. Aljaz Bedene 62 63 63 2:02 3rd round 2:50 d. Alexander Zverev 67(4) 63 63 63
d. No. 14 Roberto Bautista Agut 36 64 61 75
d. No. 7 Tomas Berdych 63 75 63 3:11
2:06 Round of 16
Quarterfinals 2:53
2:51 d. Marcel Granollers 62 67(2) 61 64
d. No. 12 David Goffin 46 76(7) 64 61
total time on court 11:06 (IBM time) 13:37 total time on court
• DJOKOVIC is bidding to reach his 6th consecutive Grand Slam final and take sole ownership of 3rd place on the list for the most consecutive major finals reached in the Open Era. Roger Federer is the only man in the Open Era have reached 6 or more consecutive Grand Slam finals.
Player Consecutive Grand Slam finals
1 Roger Federer 10 – 2005 Wimbedon – 2007 US Open
2 Roger Federer 8 – 2008 Roland Garros – 2010 Australian Open
3 Novak Djokovic?? 6 – 2015 Australian Open – 2016 Roland Garros??
4 Rafael Nadal 5 – 2011 Roland Garros – 2012 Roland Garros
• Djokovic is bidding to reach his 20th Grand Slam final and move into equal-2nd place with Rafael Nadal on the all-time list of most appearances in Grand Slam finals [see table overleaf]:
1 Roger Federer 28
2= Novak Djokovic??
Rafael Nadal 20??
20
4 Ivan Lendl 19
5 Pete Sampras 18
6 Rod Laver 17
• Djokovic is bidding to reach his 4th Roland Garros final and move into equal-6th place on the list for most appearances in the Roland Garros final in the Open Era:
Roland Garros finals reached (Open Era)
Player No. of GS semifinals
Rafael Nadal 9
Bjorn Borg 6
Ivan Lendl
Mats Wilander
Roger Federer 5
5
5
Novak Djokovic??
Guillermo Vilas 4??
4
• Djokovic is through to his 30th Grand Slam semifinal. He has a 19-10 win-loss record in his 29 previous Grand Slam semifinals and a 3-4 win-loss record in his 7 previous semifinals at Roland Garros:
Grand Slam Semifinal Result Eventual finish
2007 Roland Garros l. Rafael Nadal 75 64 62
2007 Wimbledon l. Nadal 36 61 4-1 ret. (infected toe blister)
2007 US Open d. David Ferrer 64 64 63 Runner-up
2008 Australian Open d. Roger Federer 75 63 76(5) Winner
2008 Roland Garros l. Nadal 64 62 76(3)
2008 US Open l. Federer 63 57 75 62
2009 US Open l. Federer 76(3) 75 75
2010 Wimbledon l. Tomas Berdych 63 76(9) 63
2010 US Open d. Federer 57 61 57 62 75 Runner-up
2011 Australian Open d. Federer 76(3) 75 64 Winner
2011 Roland Garros l. Federer 76(5) 63 36 76(5)
2011 Wimbledon d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 76(4) 62 67(9) 63 Winner
2011 US Open d. Federer 67(7) 46 63 62 75 Winner
2012 Australian Open d. Andy Murray 63 36 67(4) 61 75 Winner
2012 Roland Garros d. Federer 64 75 63 Runner-up
2012 Wimbledon l. Federer 63 36 64 63
2012 US Open d. Ferrer 26 61 64 62 Runner-up
2013 Australian Open d. Ferrer 62 62 61 Winner
2013 Roland Garros l. Nadal 64 36 61 67(3) 97
2013 Wimbledon d. Juan Martin del Potro 75 46 76(2) 67(6) 63 Runner-up
2013 US Open d. Stan Wawrinka 26 76(4) 36 63 64 Runner-up
2014 Roland Garros d. Ernests Gulbis 63 63 36 63 Runner-up
2014 Wimbledon d. Grigor Dimitrov 64 36 76(2) 76(7) Winner
2014 US Open l. Kei Nishikori 64 16 76(4) 63
2015 Australian Open d. Wawrinka 76(1) 36 64 46 60 Winner
2015 Roland Garros d. Murray 63 63 57 57 61 Runner-up
2015 Wimbledon d. Richard Gasquet 76(2) 64 64 Winner
2015 US Open d. Marin Cilic 60 61 62 Winner
2016 Australian Open d. Federer 61 62 36 63 Winner
2016 Roland Garros v. Dominic Thiem ??
• By reaching his 30th Grand Slam semifinal, Djokovic has closed the gap on Roger Federer (39 semifinals) and Jimmy Connors (31) on the list for the most Grand Slam semifinal appearances in the Open Era.
• Djokovic is bidding to record his 27th straight Grand Slam match-win and equal his longest Grand Slam winning streak. He has not lost a Grand Slam match since he was defeated by Stan Wawrinka in the 2015 Roland Garros final. His longest Grand Slam match-winning streak is 27, which took in the titles at 2011 Wimbledon, the 2011 US Open and the 2012 Australian Open, and a runner-up finish at 2012 Roland Garros.
• Djokovic is bidding to record his 54th match-win at Roland Garros and take sole ownership of 4th place on the list for most Roland Garros victories in history.
All time win-loss at Roland Garros
Rafael Nadal 72-2
Roger Federer 65-16
Guillermo Vilas 58-17
Novak Djokovic 53-11
Ivan Lendl 53-12
Jaroslav Drobny 53-14
• The top seed has failed to reach the final here just once in the last 5 years – when Djokovic fell to Nadal in the 2013 semifinals.
• By reaching his 8th Roland Garros semifinal, Djokovic has taken sole ownership of 2nd place on the list for most appearances in the last 4 here in the Open Era behind Rafael Nadal (9 Roland Garros semifinals). He has reached 9 US Open semifinals, 7 Wimbledon semifinals and 6 Australian Open semifinals.
• Djokovic has reached his 6th consecutive Roland Garros semifinal and taken sole ownership of the record for most consecutive Roland Garros semifinal appearances reached in the Open Era ahead of Roger Federer (2005-09) and Rafael Nadal (2010-14), who each reached 5 consecutive semifinals here.
• Roland Garros is the only Grand Slam title that Djokovic has not won. He has won 11 Grand Slam titles – at the Australian Open in 2008 (d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga), 2011 (d. Andy Murray), 2012 (d. Nadal), 2013 (d. Murray), 2015
(d. Murray) and 2016 (d. Murray), Wimbledon in 2011 (d. Nadal), 2014 (d. Federer) and 2015 (d. Federer) and the US Open in 2011 (d. Nadal) and 2015 (d. Federer).
• Djokovic is looking to become just the 8th man – and 2nd oldest – in history to complete the career Grand Slam after Andre Agassi, Don Budge, Roy Emerson, Federer, Rod Laver, Nadal and Fred Perry. He is one of 11 men to have collected 3 of the 4 major titles in the Open Era.
Career Grand Slam achievers
Player Completed at… Age^
Don Budge 1938 Roland Garros 22 years 357 days
Rod Laver 1962 US Open 24 years 32 days
Rafael Nadal 2010 US Open 24 years 101 days
Fred Perry 1935 Roland Garros 26 years 15 days
Roger Federer 2009 Roland Garros 27 years 203 days
Roy Emerson 1964 Wimbledon 27 years 244 days
Novak Djokovic 2016 Roland Garros?? 29 years 14 days
Andre Agassi 1999 Roland Garros 29 years 38 days
^ Age as at the end of the tournament
• Of the 7 men to possess a career Grand Slam, 4 of them ‘completed the set’ at Roland Garros: Perry in 1935, Budge in 1938, Agassi in 1999 and Federer in 2009.
• By winning his round of 16 match here against Bautista Agut, Djokovic became the first player to surpass $100m in career prize money.
• By defeating Darcis in the 2nd round, Djokovic recorded his 50th match-win at Roland Garros. He is one of just 3 players to have recorded 50 match-wins at each of the Grand Slams in the Open Era after Federer and Serena Williams. Djokovic has a 53-11 win-loss record here compared with 57-6 at the Australian Open, 52-8 at Wimbledon and 57-9 at the US Open.
• Djokovic has a 5-2 win-loss record in 5-set matches at Roland Garros and a 28-8 Tour-level win-loss record in 5-set matches overall.
• Last year here Djokovic reached his 3rd Roland Garros final (l. Wawrinka 46 64 63 64). He also reached the final here in 2012 and 2014, losing to Nadal on both occasions. Djokovic is making his 12th straight appearance at Roland Garros and his 46th consecutive appearance at a major.
• Djokovic has played 3 clay court events in the lead up to this year’s Roland Garros. He won the title at Madrid-1000
(d. Murray), reached the final at Rome-1000 (l. Murray) and lost in the 2nd round at Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Jiri Vesely) – his earliest Tour-level defeat since losing to Grigor Dimitrov in the 2nd round at 2013 Madrid-1000.
• Djokovic has won 5 titles so far this year. As well as winning at Madrid, he won Doha (d. Nadal), the Australian Open, Indian Wells-1000 (d. Milos Raonic) and Miami-1000 (d. Kei Nishikori) – to extend his streak of winning at least 2 titles every year since winning his first at 2006 Amersfoort (d. Nicolas Massu).
• 12 of Djokovic’s 64 career singles titles have come on clay, compared with 49 on hard court and 3 on grass.
• Djokovic won his 2 singles rubbers to help Serbia defeat Kazakhstan 3-2 in March and reach the Davis Cup quarterfinals. Serbia will play Great Britain in Belgrade on 15-17 July.
• Djokovic is coached by 3-time Roland Garros semifinalist Boris Becker. He has also been coached by Marian Vajda since June 2006. His wider team includes physios Miljan Amanovic and Gebhard Phil-Gritsch.
• THIEM is bidding to become the 2nd Austrian player – man or woman – in history to reach a Grand Slam final. 1995 Roland Garros champion Thomas Muster is the only Austrian player to reach the last 2 at a major.
• At 22 years 276 days, Thiem is bidding to become the youngest player to reach a Grand Slam final since Andy Murray (22 years 261 days) at the 2010 Australian Open. He would be the youngest player to reach the Roland Garros final since Rafael Nadal (22 years 5 days) in 2008.
• By reaching the semifinals here, Thiem is projected to break in to the Top 10 for the first time at No. 7 when the new ATP rankings are released on Monday 6 June. If he wins the title here he will be No. 6.
• Thiem is bidding to become the first No. 13 seed to reach a Grand Slam final since Alex Corretja finished runner-up here in 2001. The No. 13 seed has won the Roland Garros men’s singles title once in the Open Era – when Andre Agassi won here in 1999.
• Thiem is looking to record his first victory over a world No. 1 player on his 4th attempt. The highest-ranked player he has defeated is No. 2 Roger Federer at 2016 Rome-1000. He has a 0-2 win-loss record against Top 10 players at the majors.
• All 4 of Thiem’s victories against Top 10 players have come on clay. He has a 4-14 win-loss record against Top 10 players overall.
• If Thiem reaches the Roland Garros final on his 3rd appearance here he would go into joint-11th place on the Open Era list for least appearances before reaching the last 2 here. Alberto Berasategui, Jim Courier, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Zeljko Franulovic, Andres Gimeno, Jan Kodes, Carlos Moya and Niki Pilic also reached their first Roland Garros final on their 3rd appearance here.
• By reaching the semifinals here, Thiem has recorded his best Grand Slam result. His previous best result at a major was reaching the last 16 on his US Open debut in 2014 (l. Tomas Berdych). This is his 3rd straight Roland Garros appearance and his 10th Grand Slam overall.
• By reaching the semifinals here, Thiem has recorded his best Roland Garros result. His previous best result here was reaching the 2nd round on his debut in 2014 (d. Paul-Henri Mathieu. l. Nadal) and in 2015 (d. Aljaz Bedene,
l. Pablo Cuevas).
• Thiem is in 2nd place on the list for the most Tour-level match-wins in 2016, behind today’s opponent:
2016 Tour-level match-wins
Novak Djokovic 42-3
Dominic Thiem 41-10
Kei Nishikori 32-10
Rafael Nadal 29-8
• Prior to coming here Thiem recorded his 100th career match-win in the final at Nice (d. Alexander Zverev). It was his 3rd title of the year having also triumphed at Buenos Aires (d. Nicolas Almagro) and Acapulco (d. Bernard Tomic). 5 of his 6 career singles titles have come on clay. He is one of 3 players to have won multiple clay court titles so far this year along with Cuevas and Nadal.
• Thiem has won the most matches (25) on clay so far this season. As well as winning 2 titles on the surface, he also reached the final at Munich (l. Philipp Kohlschreiber), the semifinals at Rio de Janeiro (l. Guido Pella) and the 3rd round at Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Nadal). He lost in the 1st round at Madrid-1000 (l. Juan Martin del Potro).
• Clay is Thiem’s best surface, with 59 of his 105 Tour-level victories coming on the surface. By contrast, he has a 44-39 win-loss record on hard courts and a 2-6 win-loss record on grass.
• Thiem has a 2-2 win-loss record in 5-set matches with his most recent 5-set victory coming against Gastao Elias in Austria’s Davis Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I tie against Portugal. He has never played a 5-set match here.
• Thiem entered the men’s doubles event here with Dusan Lajovic. The pair lost to No. 12 seeds Radek Stepanek/Nenad Zimonjic 63 62 in the 1st round.
• Thiem is a former junior world No. 2. He reached the boys’ singles final at Roland Garros as No. 14 seed in 2011, losing to Bjorn Fratangelo 36 63 86. As well as reaching the junior Roland Garros final, Thiem’s best junior result is winning the 2011 Orange Bowl.
• Thiem joined the Austrian military as part of the country’s mandatory national service for 6 months from November 2014-April 2015, but continued to play on Tour during that time.
• Thiem has been coached by Gunter Bresnik in Vienna since 2004. His physical trainer is Alex Stober.
NO. 2 ANDY MURRAY (GBR) v NO. 3 STAN WAWRINKA (SUI)
Head-to-head: Murray leads 8-7
2005 Davis Cup (WG-PO) Clay (I) R2 Wawrinka 63 76(5) 64
2006 AMS Miami Hard (O) R128 Wawrinka 75 36 64
2008 Doha Hard (O) FR Murray 64 46 62
2008 Marseille Hard (I) R16 Murray 36 76(5) 61
2008 AMS Rome Clay (O) R32 Wawrinka 62 76(5)
2008 AMS Toronto Hard (O) R16 Murray 62 06 64
2008 US Open Hard (O) R16 Murray 61 63 63
2009 Wimbledon Grass (O) R16 Murray 26 63 63 57 63
2010 US Open Hard (O) R32 Wawrinka 67(3) 76(4) 63 63
2011 Shanghai-1000 Hard (O) R16 Murray 64 36 63
2012 Olympic Tennis Event Grass (O) R64 Murray 63 63
2012 Tokyo Hard (O) QF Murray 62 36 62
2013 Monte Carlo-1000 Clay (O) R16 Wawrinka 61 62
2013 US Open Hard (O) QF Wawrinka 64 63 62
2015 ATP World Tour Finals Hard (I) RR Wawrinka 76(4) 64
A 16th career meeting between the 2 players and their 5th at a Grand Slam.
Murray has lost his last 3 meetings with Wawrinka, having not defeated the Swiss since 2012 Tokyo.
Wawrinka has won all 3 of their clay court meetings in straight sets, and dropped just 3 games in their most recent clay court meeting at 2013 Monte Carlo-1000.
Murray and Wawrinka have a 2-2 win-loss record against each other at the Grand Slams, though Wawrinka has won both of their last 2 meetings at a major.
Possible final head-to-heads
Djokovic Thiem
Murray 10-23 2-0
Wawrinka 4-19 2-1
MURRAY v WAWRINKA
29 Age 31
6’3”/1.91m Height 6’0”/1.83m
2 ATP Ranking 4
36 Titles 14
164-38 Career Grand Slam Record 111-42
2 titles Best Grand Slam Result 2 titles
33-8 Roland Garros Record 32-10
579-170 Career Record 420-241
97-40 Career Record – Clay 161-78
27-5 2016 Record 27-7
17-2 2016 Record – Clay 12-3
22-7 Career Five-Set Record 23-19
9 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 6
165-102 Career Tiebreak Record 168-159
8-4 2016 Tiebreak Record 11-4
Road to the Semifinals
MURRAY Time Time WAWRINKA
d. (Q) Radek Stepanek 36 36 60 63 75
d. (WC) Mathias Bourgue 62 26 46 62 63 3:41
3:34 1st round
2nd round 3:11
2:07 d. Lukas Rosol 46 61 36 63 64
d. Taro Daniel 76(7) 63 64
d. No. 27 Ivo Karlovic 61 64 76(3) 1:56 3rd round 1:59 d. No. 30 Jeremy Chardy 64 63 75
d. No. 15 John Isner 76(9) 64 63
d. No. 9 Richard Gasquet 57 76(3) 60 62 2:40
3:24 Round of 16
Quarterfinals 2:56
1:56 d. No. 22 Viktor Troicki 76(5) 67(7) 63 62
d. Albert Ramos-Vinolas 62 61 76(7)
total time on court 15:15 (IBM time) 12:09 total time on court
• MURRAY is attempting to become the first British man in the Open Era to reach the Roland Garros final. Only 2 British men have reached the final here since the event became international in 1925:
British men in the final of the French Championships (since 1925)
Year Player Final result
1935 Fred Perry Defeated Gottfried von Cramm 63 36 61 63
1936 Fred Perry Lost Gottfried von Cramm 60 26 62 26 60
1937 Bunny Austin Lost to Henner Henkel 61 64 63
• Murray is bidding to reach his 10th Grand Slam final and equal Fred Perry for the most appearances in a Grand Slam final by a British man (since the Challenge Round was abolished at Wimbledon in 1922):
Player Appearances in a Grand Slam final
Fred Perry 10 – US Championships 1933-34, 1936, Australian Championships 1934-35, French Championships 1935-36, Wimbledon 1934-36
Andy Murray 9 – US Open 2008, 2012, Australian Open 2010-11, 2013, 2015-16, Wimbledon 2012-13
• Murray is bidding to equal Boris Becker in 12th place on the list for the most Grand Slam finals reached in the Open Era with 10. Only 3 active players have reached more Grand Slam finals than Murray – Roger Federer (27), Rafael Nadal (20) and Novak Djokovic (19)* [*Djokovic is bidding to reach his 20th Grand Slam final here].
• Murray is also bidding to reach the Roland Garros final for the first time and become the 10th man in the Open Era to reach the final at all 4 Grand Slam events. Djokovic is the last man to reach the final at all 4 Grand Slam events at 2012 Roland Garros. Murray would be the 3rd oldest to achieve the feat:
Age to complete the set of Grand Slam final appearances (Open Era)
Player Completed at… Age^
Jim Courier 1993 Wimbledon 22 years 321 days
Rafael Nadal 2010 US Open 24 years 101 days
Andre Agassi 1995 Australian Open 24 years 275 days
Roger Federer 2006 Roland Garros 24 years 307 days
Novak Djokovic 2012 Roland Garros 25 years 19 days
Stefan Edberg 1991 US Open 25 years 232 days
Ivan Lendl 1986 Wimbledon 26 years 121 days
Andy Murray?? 2016 Roland Garros?? 29 years 21 days??
Rod Laver* 1969 US Open 31 years 31 days
Ken Rosewall* 1971 Australian Open 36 years 73 days
^ Age as at the end of the tournament
* Also reached all 4 Slam finals in the pre-Open Era
• Murray has reached his 19th Grand Slam semifinal and extended his record for the most Grand Slam semifinal appearances by a British man ahead of Fred Perry (13 semifinals). Murray has reached the semifinals at the Australian Open 6 times, Roland Garros 4 times, Wimbledon 6 times and the US Open 3 times.
• Murray has a 0-3 win-loss record in semifinals here, compared with 2-1 at the US Open, 2-4 at Wimbledon and 5-1 at the Australian Open. He went on to reach the final after contesting his first semifinal at both the US Open and Australian Open, but lost in 3 Wimbledon semifinals before reaching the final in his 4th.
Murray’s Grand Slam semifinal appearances
Grand Slam Opponent Result
2008 US Open Rafael Nadal d. 62 76(5) 46 64
2009 Wimbledon Andy Roddick l. 64 46 76(7) 76(5)
2010 Australian Open Marin Cilic d. 36 64 64 62
2010 Wimbledon Rafael Nadal l. 64 76(6) 64
2011 Australian Open David Ferrer d. 46 76(2) 61 76(2)
2011 Roland Garros Rafael Nadal l. 64 75 64
2011 Wimbledon Rafael Nadal l. 57 62 62 64
2011 US Open Rafael Nadal l. 64 62 36 62
2012 Australian Open Novak Djokovic l. 63 36 67(4) 61 75
2012 Wimbledon Jo-Wilfried Tsonga d. 63 64 36 75
2012 US Open Tomas Berdych d. 57 62 61 76(7)
2013 Australian Open Roger Federer d. 64 67(5) 63 67(2) 62
2013 Wimbledon Jerzy Janowicz d. 67(2) 64 64 63
2014 Roland Garros Rafael Nadal l. 63 62 61
2015 Australian Open Tomas Berdych d. 67(6) 60 63 75
2015 Roland Garros Novak Djokovic l. 63 63 57 57 61
2015 Wimbledon Roger Federer l. 75 75 64
2016 Australian Open Milos Raonic d. 46 75 67(4) 64 62
2016 Roland Garros v Stan Wawrinka ??
• Murray is bidding to record his 165th Grand Slam match-win today and close the gap on John McEnroe (167) in 9th place on the Open Era list for most victories at the majors. By reaching the semifinals here, Murray overtook Boris Becker (163) to take sole ownership of 10th place on the Open Era list.
• Murray is bidding to end a 6-match losing streak against Top 4 opposition at the Grand Slams. He has not defeated a Top 4 opponent at a major since defeating No. 1 Djokovic in the final at 2013 Wimbledon. He has a 5-18 win-loss record against Top 4 opposition at the majors overall.
• Murray is bidding to defeat a Top 4 player on clay for the 3rd time. He has a 2-10 win-loss record against Top 4 opposition on clay, with his only wins coming against No. 4 Nadal at 2015 Madrid-1000 and No. 1 Djokovic in the final at 2016 Rome-1000.
• By reaching the semifinals here for the 4th time, Murray has moved into joint-8th place on the list for most Roland Garros semifinal appearances in the Open Era:
Most Roland Garros semifinal appearances (Open Era)
Rafael Nadal 9
Novak Djokovic 8
Roger Federer 7
Bjorn Borg
Mats Wilander 6
6
Andre Agassi
Ivan Lendl 5
5
Sergi Bruguera
Jimmy Connors
Jim Courier
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Andy Murray
Guillermo Vilas 4
4
4
4
4
4
• By reaching the last 4 here, Murray has reached his 19th Grand Slam semifinal and moved into joint-8th place with Stefan Edberg and John McEnroe on the Open Era list for most Grand Slam semifinals reached. Federer (39 semifinals), Djokovic (30) and Nadal (23) are the only active players to reach the last 4 at a Grand Slam on more occasions than Murray.
• Murray is the only British player – man or woman – to have reached 4 semifinals at Roland Garros. Murray is one of just 4 British players along with Fred Perry (1935-36), Bunny Austin (1935, 1937) and Ann Jones (1968-69) to reach multiple semifinals here.
• Murray is bidding to extend his record for the most Roland Garros match-wins by a British man in history:
Most Roland Garros match-wins by a British man (all-time)
Player Win-loss record
1. Andy Murray 33-8
2. Fred Perry 28-5
3. Bunny Austin 23-6
4. Patrick Hughes 21-6
5= Billy Knight
Bobby Wilson 19-10
19-9
• Murray has now reached the semifinals at 5 of the last 6 Grand Slam events he has contested since falling to Djokovic in the quarterfinals at the 2014 US Open. The only time he has failed to reach the last 4 at a major in that time was when he fell to Kevin Anderson in the round of 16 at the 2015 US Open.
• Murray is bidding to record his 11th straight win and record his longest Tour-level winning streak on clay. He has won 10-match straight matches on clay, having won the title at Rome-1000 (d. Djokovic) prior to coming here – equalling his longest Tour-level winning streak on the surface. He also won 10 matches in a row in winning the titles at 2015 Munich and 2015 Madrid-1000 before conceding a walkover due to fatigue against David Goffin in the 2nd round at 2015 Rome-1000.
• By defeating No. 1 Djokovic in the final at Rome-1000 prior to coming here, Murray ended a 6-match losing streak against Top 4 opposition. He has won just 4 of his last 23 matches against Top 4 opposition at Tour-level.
• Murray has never played more than 2 five-set matches at the same Grand Slam event. As well as contesting 2 five-set matches here, Murray also contested 2 five-set matches at the 2005 US Open (d. Andrei Pavel in the 1st round, l. Arnaud Clement in the 2nd round) and at 2014 Roland Garros (d. Philipp Kohlschreiber in the 3rd round,
d. Gael Monfils in the quarterfinals).
• Murray’s win over Stepanek in the 1st round was his 9th career comeback from 0-2 down – putting him in joint-3rd place on the Open Era list for the most 0-2 comebacks with Vitas Gerulaitis, Todd Martin and Roger Federer. Only Aaron Krickstein and Becker have achieved more 0-2 comebacks at Tour-level in the Open Era with 10.
• Murray’s win over Bourgue was his 10th 5-set match-win in his last 11 five-set matches. His only 5-set defeat in that time came against Djokovic in the semifinals at 2015 Roland Garros. Murray has a 7-2 win-loss record in 5-set matches at Roland Garros and a 22-7 five set win-loss record overall.
• It is the first time Murray has been extended to 5-sets in both his 1st and 2nd round matches at a Grand Slam. Gaston Gaudio in 2004 is the only man to have won the Roland Garros title having been extended to 5-sets in both his 1st and 2nd round matches in the Open Era.
• By reaching the semifinals here, Murray has equalled his best Roland Garros performance. He also reached the semifinals here last year, when he lost to Djokovic 63 63 57 57 61 in a match that was played over 2 days due to rain, and fell to Nadal at this stage in both 2011 and 2014. This is his 9th Roland Garros appearance.
• Murray is one of the 3 Grand Slam champions to reach the semifinals from the 5 who started the men’s main draw here. He became the first British male Grand Slam winner since Fred Perry won the 1936 US Open at the 2012 US Open (d. Djokovic), before becoming the first British man in 77 years to win the Wimbledon title in 2013 (d. Djokovic).
• Murray is bidding to add to his US Open and Wimbledon titles and become the 16th man in the Open Era to win at least 3 of the 4 Grand Slam titles [see Preview page 2].
• Murray warmed up for Roland Garros by winning the title at Rome-1000 and reaching the final at Madrid-1000
(l. Djokovic) and the semifinals at Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Nadal). Also in 2016 Murray reached his 5th Australian Open final, losing to Djokovic.
• Murray plays here seeded No. 2 – his highest seeding at Roland Garros. He has now been seeded No. 2 at all 4 Grand Slam events.
• Murray reached the semifinals of the boys’ singles as top seed at 2005 Roland Garros (l. Marin Cilic).
• In March, Murray helped defending champions Great Britain reach the Davis Cup World Group quarterfinals for the 3rd year in a row. He won both of his singles matches in the first round tie against Japan in Birmingham, defeating Taro Daniel and Nishikori to help Great Britain defeat Japan 3-1. Great Britain plays Serbia in the quarterfinals in Belgrade on 15-17 July.
• Murray is coached by former ATP pro Jamie Delgado.
• Defending champion WAWRINKA is bidding to reach his 3rd Grand Slam final and his 2nd at Roland Garros.
• Aged 31 years 69 days, Wawrinka is looking to become the oldest man to reach the final at Roland Garros since Niki Pilic finished runner-up here aged 33 years 280 days in 1973. Wawrinka is the oldest man to reach the semifinals at Roland Garros since Jimmy Connors reached the last 4 here aged 32 years 280 days in 1985.
• By reaching the semifinals here, Roland Garros has become Wawrinka’s most successful Grand Slam in terms of matches won. He has a 32-10 win-loss record here, compared with 31-10 at the Australian Open, 17-11 at Wimbledon and 31-11 at the US Open.
• Wawrinka is one of 3 Swiss players – men or women – to have reached a Grand Slam final in history alongside Roger Federer (27 Grand Slam finals) and Martina Hingis (12).
• Wawrinka is bidding to record his 10th straight-win and record a new career-best Tour-level winning streak on clay. He also recorded 9 straight victories in winning the title at 2013 Oeiras through to the final at 2013 Madrid-1000, and in winning the title at 2015 Roland Garros through to the quarterfinals at 2016 Monte Carlo-1000. His career-best Tour-level winning streak is 13 matches (winning the title at 2014 Chennai through the round of 16 at 2014 Indian Wells-1000).
• Wawrinka is bidding to become the first No. 3 seed to reach a Grand Slam final since No. 3 Rafael Nadal won the title here in 2013.
• Wawrinka is bidding to record his 8th victory over a Top 2 opponent on his 43rd attempt. His most recent victory over a Top 2 player came against today’s opponent at the 2015 ATP World Tour Finals. He has a 4-8 win-loss record against Top 2 players at the Grand Slams, with his 4 victories occurring in his last 6 matches with them at the majors. He has won 2 of the 3 matches he has played against Top 2 opposition at Roland Garros.
• Wawrinka, who won the junior title here in 2003, was also the first former boys’ champion to win the title here since Mats Wilander in 1988 and at 30 years 71 days was the oldest male champion since Andres Gomez in 1990. The last boys’ champion to win multiple titles at Roland Garros was Wilander, who won the men’s title here in 1982, 1985 and 1988.
• Wawrinka, who won 2015 Roland Garros aged 30 years 71 days, is looking to become the 5th man in the Open Era to win 2 or more Grand Slams titles after turning 30. Andre Agassi was the last man to achieve the feat, winning the Australian Open in 2001 at 30 years, 274 days and again aged 32 years, 272 days in 2003.
• Wawrinka is looking to become the 8th man in the Open Era to successfully defend the Roland Garros title. If he can retain his crown it will be the 17th time in the Open Era that the French Open title has been successfully defended [see Preview page 5].
• Wawrinka has reached his 6th Grand Slam semifinal. Just 3 Swiss men have reached a Grand Slam semifinal in history – Federer (39), Wawrinka (6) and Marc Rosset (1).
• Wawrinka’s 1st round win over Rosol improved his 5-set win-loss record to 23-19 and improved his 5-set win-loss record at Roland Garros to 8-2. By winning in 5 sets, Wawrinka avoided becoming the first defending Roland Garros champion to lose their opening match here since 1956 champion Lew Hoad fell in the 3rd round (after receiving 2 opening round byes) in 1957.
• Wawrinka broke through to win his first Grand Slam title in his first Grand Slam final at the 2014 Australian Open
(d. Nadal 63 62 36 63). He was the first player to defeat the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds en route to a Grand Slam title since Sergei Bruguera won 1993 Roland Garros. He repeated the feat when winning 2015 Roland Garros.
• Last year here Wawrinka won the title, defeating Novak Djokovic in 46 64 63 64 in the final. He was the first man to win Roland Garros a year after losing in the 1st round since 2002 champion Albert Costa, who had lost in the 1st round in Paris in 2001.
• Wawrinka warmed up for Roland Garros by winning the title at Geneva (d. Marin Cilic). He also reached the quarterfinals at Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Nadal) and the 3rd round at Rome-1000 (l. Juan Monaco) but lost his opening match at Madrid-1000 (l. Nick Kyrgios).
• Also in 2016, Wawrinka successfully defended his Chennai title (d. Borna Coric) and won Dubai (d. Marcos Baghdatis). He reached the round of 16 at the Australian Open, losing to Raonic.
• Wawrinka has played in every major since making his Grand Slam debut at 2005 Roland Garros. This is his 12th straight Roland Garros appearance and his 45th consecutive Grand Slam appearance.
• Wawrinka is coached by 2000 Roland Garros finalist Magnus Norman.
*All stats courtesy of the International Tennis Federation