your eight-page guide to the world's greatest tennis tournament

your eight-page guide to the world’s greatest tennis tournament

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Sport Wimbledon 2013

Can Murray remove the biggest monkey of all from his back?

Andy Murray will be the first British men’s singles Grand Slam champion to walk through the famous Wimble-don gates since — yes you

guessed it — Fred Perry. While the name from the past is the same, the context in which good old Fred is men-tioned has significantly changed thanks to Murray’s wonderful triumph at last year’s US Open in New York.

Murray no longer has to endure ques-tions about why Britain has failed to produce a men’s singles Grand Slam champion since 1936 — Sue Barker and Virginia Wade won the French and Wimbledon womens singles titles respectively — but he cannot avoid the fact that Wimbledon remains the elu-sive and ultimate prize 77 years since Perry lifted the trophy. He won Wim-bledon three years in a row from 1934 but the country would settle for just one from Murray.

Having won his third Aegon Champi-onships crown at Queen’s last week-end, Murray has ensured the media interest in his title bid will be as intense as ever although being able to live at home as he takes part in the greatest Great Slam of them all will be a com-fort. The back injury that forced the world No2 out of the French Open has been brought under control and while you can guarantee the Scot will grim-ace his way through most matches, his health is not the major issue.

As usual, the major issue will be Mur-ray’s ability to handle the huge expec-tation of the nation as his Grand Slam-winning credentials are no longer in question thanks to that epic victory in the US Open final against world No1 Novak Djokovic last year.

Murray has also started to win over the British public. He gained more fans after his emotional on-court interview following last year’s final defeat to Roger Federer. That was boosted further by his Olympic gold in the same arena (not

to mention the silver he won with Laura Robson in the mixed doubles) and while there are many who just don’t “get” Murray, his legion of supporters is increasing. He was in great form in a charity match at Queen’s last week, managing to hit coach Ivan Lendl with a forehand and raced around the court, arms aloft in triumph.

“If I’m playing well enough to hit Ivan Lendl with a forehand for the first time ever, I reckon I’m in pretty good shape for Wimbledon,” Murray said after-wards. “I hit it so cleanly — it was the best shot I played all week — and I already know that Ivan will try to get me back when we practise together this week.”

At the start of the year, it appeared

Victory in the US Open has set the British No1 up for more expectation than ever. Chris Jones reports

Murray has started to win over the public with his emotional interview after last year’s final defeat

british women to watch rankings as of June 17

Laurarobson(37)The left-hander, who lives just a stone’s throw away from the Wimbledon courts, has been tipped to push into the top 10 in the world this season, particularly if she gets her serve firing. The 19-year-old has just started working with Andy Murray’s former coach Miles Maclagan having parted company with Zeljko Krajan

HeatHerWatson(57)�The British No2 (right) has endured a difficult winter

after a debilitating bout of glandular fever, which left her in bed 14 hours a day and meant she struggled to

walk more than 20 minutes at a time. Now healthy, her

form is difficult to predict.

JoHannaKonta(137)

The Australian-born daughter of Hungarian parents

moved to England at the age of 14 but only became a British citizen last summer. She made her Wimbledon debut last year but lost in the first round to Christina McHale.

other british men to watch

JamesWard(216)Last year at Wimbledon, Ward won his first ever Grand Slam match by beating world No.36 Pablo Andujar in an epic five setter, in which he won the final six games to wrap up the deciding set 6-3. KyLeedmund(442)The 18-year-old has impressed in the junior ranks and defeated top-100 player Kenny de Schepper in straight sets at Eastbourne recently —-his first victory on the ATP World Tour, helping to earn him a wildcard at Wimbledon.

ElEna Baltacha (185)Baltacha has been on the comeback trail since April following a lengthy absence because of ankle surgery. Her form has been good having won the Aegon Challenge in Nottingham and been competitive at Eastbourne as she bids to get back to the top of the British rankings.

tara MoorE (198) The 20-year-old British No5, who lives in Florida, will be making her Grand Slam debut in the main draw. She describes grass as her favourite surface.

annE KEothavong (215) There are suggestions this could be the 29-year-old Londoner’s last Wimbledon. Keothavong (left) has won just four

matches in the SW19 single’s draw at her 12

Wimbledon appearances.

SaMantha Murray (232) The 25-year-old did not make her Tour debut until the 2011

season and her career-high ranking earned her a Wimbledon wildcard.

EvEning Standard Monday 24 June 2013 �

Wimbledon 2013 Sport

that Murray would only have to worry about the dual threat of Djokovic and reigning champion Roger Federer as Rafael Nadal was battling a career-threatening knee injury with no fixed date for his return.

Now, on the eve of another Champ-ionships, Nadal has not only returned to the sport, but appears to have returned stronger than ever. His eighth French Open title, won last month, has only served to confound those who wrote him off. Indeed, former Wimble-don champion Pat Cash has gone as far to say the Spaniard is favourite to win the SW19 title.

Djokovic will have something to say about that — along with Murray — while Federer, holder of a record 17 Slams, keeps confounding the view that his time has passed.

The Swiss is more vulnerable these days as the elder statesman of the sport, however, his Halle title win at the weekend on grass confirmed his potency on a surface that allows him to finish points quickly and to utilise one of the greatest serves the sport has

ever witnessed. While Federer stands at the top of the Grand Slam winning list, there are statistics that show that he has found it tougher to beat his fel-low top 4 players. After beating Murray at the 2010 Australian Open, the World No3 went 0-6 against Djokovic, Nadal and Murray at the four subsequent Grand Slams before regaining his poise to win Wimbledon last summer.

In his last 13 Grand Slams there has only been that one title and lesser mortals such as Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga have got the better of him.

Seven Wimbledon titles simply can-not be ignored and Federer, who has reduced his workload on the Tour to try and ensure he peaks for the Grand Slams, said after the Halle final: “These are exactly the kind of wins I need at this part of the season.

“I have been preparing well for this part of the season and I’m happy it’s paying off. It’s obviously important for my confidence looking forward to Wimbledon.”

That is exactly how Murray feels.

In a sweat: Andy Murray lost last

year’s final to Roger Federer

Federer thrilled by 10-year anniversaryWIMBLEDON has a special place in Roger Federer’s heart but this year’s tournament means a little more to the Swiss star than usual.

For it was a decade ago that Federer beat Mark Philippoussis in the final here to claim his first Grand Slam title and trigger a period of success never seen in the men’s game.

Today, Federer returned to Wimbledon as defending champion and with a record 17 Grand Slam titles under his belt, seven of which were won at SW19.

“It’s been an unbelievable 10

years,” said the world No3. “I can’t believe it’s been this successful and this nice in the process. I’ve really enjoyed myself on tour. I’ve made many friends. I started a foundation. I’ve continued to be successful.

“I’ve played so many matches where I went through so many incredible moments. I’m forever grateful to this first Wimbledon title I was able to achieve here.

“It’s all happened a bit too fast for my liking but I’m happy I’m still playing and continuing to give myself opportunities to be contending for

the title here. And being back as well 10 years later as defending champion is quite unique at the same time, so I’m very excited.”

Federer was today opening his campaign against Romania’s Victor Hanescu but, since Friday’s draw, the talk among tennis fans has been of a potential quarter-final meeting with Rafael Nadal, seeded fifth.

“The quarter-finals are still a long way away,” said Federer. “It was never supposed to be easy winning Grand Slams. I’m ready for the challenge. I like tough draws.”

� � Monday�24�June�2013��eveningstandard

Sport Wimbledon 2013

(1) Novak Djokovic (Ser)

Florian Mayer (Ger)

Bobby Reynolds (USA)

Steve Johnson (USA)

Blaz Kavcic (Slo)

Jan-Lennard Struff (Ger)

Ryan Harrison (USA)

(28) Jeremy Chardy (Fra)

(19) Gilles Simon (Fra)

Feliciano Lopez (Spa)

Ricardas Berankis (Lit)

Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra)

Wayne Odesnik (USA)

Jimmy Wang (Tpe)

Dmitry Tursunov (Rus)

(13) Tommy Haas (Ger)

(9) Richard Gasquet (Fra)

Marcel Granollers (Spa)

Andreas H-Maurer (Aut)

Go Soeda (Jpn)

James Blake (USA)

Thiemo De Bakker (Ned)

Bernard Tomic (Aus)

(21) Sam Querrey (USA)

(27) Kevin Anderson (SA)

Olivier Rochus (Bel)

Philipp Petzschner (Ger)

Michal Przysiezny (Pol)

Daniel Brands (Ger)

Daniel Gimeno-Traver (Spa)

Martin Klizan (Svk)

(7) Tomas Berdych (Cze)

(4) David Ferrer (Spa)

Martin Alund (Arg)

Roberto Bautista-Agut (Spa)

Teymuraz Gabashvili (Rus)

Horacio Zeballos (Arg)

Santiago Giraldo (Col)

Gastao Elias (Por)

(26) Alexandr Dolgop’v (Ukr)

(17) Milos Raonic (Can)

Carlos Berlocq (Arg)

Alex Kuznetsov (USA)

Igor Sijsling (Ned)

James Duckworth (Aus)

Denis Kudla (USA)

Ivan Dodig (Cro)

(16) Philipp Kohlsch’ber (Ger)

(12) Kei Nishikori (Jpn)

Matthew Ebden (Aus)

Leonardo Mayer (Arg)

Aljaz Bedene (Slo)

Michael Llodra (Fra)

Jarkko Nieminen (Fin)

Denis Istomin (Uzb)

(23) Andreas Seppi (Ita)

(29) Grigor Dimitrov (Bul)

Simone Bolelli (Ita)

Grega Zemlja (Slo)

Michael Russell (USA)

Guido Pella (Arg)

Jesse Levine (Can)

Albert Ramos (Spa)

(8) Juan M Del Potro (Arg)

(5) Rafael Nadal (Spa)

Steve Darcis (Bel)

Lukasz Kubot (Pol)

Igor Andreev (Rus)

Stephane Robert (Fra)

Alejandro Falla (Col)

Adrian Ungur (Rom)

(25) Benoit Paire (Fra)

(18) John Isner (USA)

Evgeny Donskoy (Rus)

Pablo Andujar (Spa)

Adrian Mannarino (Fra)

Dustin Brown (Ger)

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spa)

Lleyton Hewitt (Aus)

(11) Stanislas Wawrinka (Swi)

(15) Nicolas Almagro (Spa)

Jurgen Zopp (Est)

Marinko Matosevic (Aus)

Guillaume Rufin (Fra)

Radek Stepanek (Cze)

Matt Reid (Aus)

Kyle Edmund (GB)

(24) Jerzy Janowicz (Pol)

(30) Fabio Fognini (Ita)

Jurgen Melzer (Aut)

Julian Reister (Ger)

Lukas Rosol (Cze)

Rogerio Dutra Silva (Bra)

Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukr)

Victor Hanescu (Rom)

(3) Roger Federer (Swi)

(6) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra))

David Goffin (Bel)

Edouard Roger-Vasselin (Fra)

Ernests Gulbis (Lat)

Fernando Verdasco (Spa)

Xavier Malisse (Bel)

Tobias Kamke (Ger)

(31) Julien Benneteau (Fra)

(22) Juan Monaco (Arg)

Bastian Knittel (Ger)

Lukas Lacko (Svk)

Rajeev Ram (USA)

Kenny De Schepper (Fra)

Paolo Lorenzi (Ita)

Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp)

(10) Marin Cilic (Cro)

(14) Janko Tipsarevic (Ser)

Viktor Troicki (Ser)

Andrey Kuznetsov (Rus)

Albert Montanes (Spa)

Marc Gicquel (Fra)

Vasek Pospisil (Can)

Robin Haase (Ned)

(20) Mikhail Youzhny (Rus)

(32) Tommy Robredo (Spa)

Alex Bogomolov Jr. (Rus)

Nicolas Mahut (Fra)

Jan Hajek (Cze)

James Ward (GB)

Yen-Hsun Lu (Tpe)

Benjamin Becker (Ger)

(2) Andy Murray (GB)

FinalJuly 7

men’s draw

Semi final

Quarter final

Semi final

Quarter final

Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 4 Round 3 Round 2First round First round

evening standard Monday 24 June 2013 �

Wimbledon 2013 Sport

women’s draw

(1) Serena Williams (USA)

Mandy Minella (Lux)

Caroline Garcia (Fra)

Jie Zheng (Chn)

Kimiko Date Krumm (Jpn)

Carina Witthoeft (Ger)

Alexandra Cadantu (Rom)

(28) Tamira Paszek (Aut)

(23) Sabine Lisicki (Ger)

Francesca Schiavone (Ita)

Elena Vesnina (Rus)

Andrea Hlavackova (Cze)

Olga Puchkova (Rus)

Arantxa Rus (Ned)

Anna Karolina Sch’ova (Svk)

(14) Samantha Stosur (Aus)

(10) Maria Kirilenko (Rus)

Laura Robson (GB)

Mariana Duque Marino (Col)

Julia Goerges (Ger)

Ayumi Morita (Jpn)

Marina Erakovic (NZ)

Anabel Medina Gar’es (Spa)

(24) Shuai Peng (Chn)

(31) Romina Oprandi (Swi)

Alison Riske (USA)

Mallory Burdette (USA)

Urszula Radwanska (Pol)

Kaia Kanepi (Est)

Tara Moore (GB)

Bethanie Mat’k-Sands (USA)

(7) Angelique Kerber (Ger)

(4) Agnieszka Radw’ska (Pol)

Yvonne Meusburger (Aut)

Timea Babos (Hun)

Mathilde Johansson (Fra)

Heather Watson (GB)

Madison Keys (USA)

Monica Niculescu (Rom)

(30) Mona Barthel (Ger)

(21) Anastasia Pavlyu’va (Rus)

Tsvetana Pironkova (Bul)

Barbora Zah’va Strycova (Cze)

Magdalena Rybarikova (Svk)

Anna Tatishvili (Geo)

Petra Martic (Cro)

Karolina Pliskova (Cze)

(13) Nadia Petrova (Rus)

(11) Roberta Vinci (Ita)

Chanelle Scheepers (SA)

Kristyna Pliskova (Cze)

Jana Cepelova (Svk)

Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor (Spa)

Irina-Camelia Begu (Rom)

Maria Elena Camerin (Ita)

(18) Dominika Cibulkova (Svk)

(32) Klara Zakopalova (Cze)

Daniela Hantuchova (Svk)

Nina Bratchikova (Por)

Annika Beck (Ger)

Olga Govortsova (Blr)

Simona Halep (Rom)

Michaella Krajicek (Ned)

(6) Li Na (Chn)

(5) Sara Errani (Ita)

Monica Puig (Pue)

Silvia Soler Espinosa (Spa)

Misaki Doi (Jpn)

Lara Arruab’a-Vecino (Spa)

Lesia Tsurenko (Ukr)

Eva Birnerova (Cze)

(26) Varvara Lepchenko (USA)

(17) Sloane Stephens (USA)

Jamie Hampton (USA)

Pauline Parmentier (Fra)

Andrea Petkovic (Ger)

Petra Cetkovska (Cze)

Donna Vekic (Cro)

Estrella Cab’a Candela (Spa)

(9) Caroline Wozniacki (Den)

(15) Marion Bartoli (Fra)

Elina Svitolina (Ukr)

Christina McHale (USA)

Alexa Glatch (USA)

Camila Giorgi (Ita)

Samantha Murray (GB)

Stefanie Voegele (Swi)

(22) Sorana Cirstea (Rom)

(27) Lucie Safarova (Cze)

Lauren Davis (USA)

Lucie Hradecka (Cze)

Karin Knapp (Ita)

Michelle Larc’r De Brito (Por)

Melanie Oudin (USA)

Kristina Mladenovic (Fra)

(3) Maria Sharapova (Rus)

(8) Petra Kvitova (Cze)

Coco Vandeweghe (USA)

Kiki Bertens (Ned)

Yaroslava Shvedova (Kaz)

Garbine Muguruza (Spa)

Anne Keothavong (GB)

Johanna Larsson (Swe)

(25) Ekaterina Mak’va (Rus)

(19) Carla Su’z-Navarro (Spa)

Lourdes Dom’z Lino (Spa)

Sofia Arvidsson (Swe)

Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (Cro)

Eugenie Bouchard (Can) Galina

Voskoboeva (Kaz)

Virginie Razzano (Fra)

(12) Ana Ivanovic (Ser)

(16) Jelena Jankovic (Ser)

Johanna Konta (GB)

Yanina Wickmayer (Bel) Vesna

Dolonc (Ser)

Ajla Tomljanovic (Cro)

Bojana Jovanovski (Ser)

Yulia Putintseva (Kaz)

(20) Kirsten Flipkens (Bel)

(29) Alize Cornet (Fra)

Vania King (USA)

Su-Wei Hsieh (Tpe)

Tatjana Maria (Ger)

Elena Baltacha (GB)

Flavia Pennetta (Ita)

Maria Joao Koehler (Por)

(2) Victoria Azarenka (Blr)

FinalJuly 6

Semi-final

Quarter final

Semi final

Quarter final

Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 4 Round 3 Round 2First round First round

�

PB � Monday�24�June�2013��eveningstandard

Petra Kvitova (8)The 2011 women’s singles champion at Wimbledon picked up her one Grand Slam to date by beating Sharapova in straight sets. She lists grass as her favourite surface but has been woefully erratic in terms of her results both on grass and elsewhere on the WTA Tour. She has slipped down the rankings since her 2011 win but could challenge again.

Serena WilliamS (seeded 1)On the court, Williams currently looks unstoppable as she bids for her 17th career Grand Slam singles title and her sixth at Wimbledon. She is clearly thriving with coach Patrick Mouratoglou, who she teamed up with last year, and appears more keen than ever to break records on the court. Her steely determination hasn’t wilted and she will be very difficult to beat.

victoria azarenKa (2)The Belarusian’s loss to Williams in last year’s Wimbledon semi-final was her sixth consecutive defeat at the hands of the world No1, although she has beaten her since — notably when winning the Qatar Open in February. The 23-year-old may have a poor record against Williams but still looks one of the few players capable of ending her Wimbledon hegemony.

maria SharaPova (3)Sharapova knows what it takes to beat Williams in a Wimbledon final having done so as a 17-year-old for the first of four Grand Slam wins but that success dates back nine years now. She has lost in her past 13 encounters with Williams so psychologically heads into SW19 on the back foot and was beaten again by the American in the French Open Final this month.

agnieSzKa radWanSKa (4)Andy Murray’s favourite player on the women’s tour, the Scotsman praised her in the build-up to Wimbledon for her array of lobs and drop shots, and her all-round variety on court. She suffered a premature exit on grass at Eastbourne recently but, as last year’s beaten finalist, where she took Williams to three sets, she clearly relishes playing on the surface.

evening Standard Monday 24 June 2013 �

Wimbledon 2013 Sport

five more women to watch

It’s not been a great season so far for the British No1 but after overcoming a back injury, she says she feels more confident than ever going into the championships. By Giuseppe Muro

Laura’s rollercoaster ride

Laura robson has had to carry a burden of expectations at Wimbledon ever since winning the junior title aged 14 in 2008 — and this year hopes are higher

than ever despite her fluctuating form heading into the championships.

robson is the finest woman tennis player this country has produced in more than 20 years.

The 19-year-old is british no1 and now ranked a lofty 37th in the world.

she has suffered seven first-round defeats in a season she describes as “up and down” but usually saves her best performances for the biggest stage.

robson won olympic silver with andy Murray on Centre Court in the mixed doubles last summer and has tended to do better in Grand slam tournaments.

she beat world no8 Li na and former champion Kim Clijsters in reaching the

fourth round of the us open last year and saw off world no8 Petra Kvitova on her way to the third round of the aus-tralian open in January.

robson, the youngest player in the world’s top 50, became the first british woman since 1990 to reach a WTa final later last year.

Her ranking has soared from outside the top 100 and this year she has also taken the scalps of 2012 Wimbledon finalist agnieszka radwanska and seven-time Grand slam winner Venus Williams.

she has fully recovered from a back injury that forced her to withdraw from the French open doubles after an opening-round defeat to Caroline Woz-niacki in Paris.

That gave her an extra week to get ready for the grass-court season and is not the only reason her preparations

robson, who did not speak to Murray before appointing Maclagan for the grass-court season with a view to mak-ing the arrangement permanent.

“I thought he would be a good person to have for now and then we will see how it goes.”

a second-round defeat to world no60 Daniela Hantuchova at birming-ham and another loss to Wozniacki at

Eastbourne, albeit after a much-improved performance, shows there is work to be done under Maclagan.

robson, whose best effort at a Grand slam to date was last year’s run to the fourth round at the us open, is part-nering american Lisa raymond in the women’s doubles. she will also team up with britain’s Colin Fleming in the mixed doubles.

“I am playing with more confidence and feeling happier on the court,” said robson. “I have always tried to play an aggressive style and in order to do that

you need to be feeling confident. I have always played pretty well on grass so I do not see why I can’t do well this year.”

Laura Robson was introducing the new Steam

99S spin racket as part of Wilson’s grass roots programme.

■

‘I am a better all-round player than I was last year. I ’ve been working a lot on my volleys and that will help on grass’

Riding high: Laura Robson with Giuseppe Muro and proving a hit with children

for Wimbledon have been different this year. robson is now living on her own in Putney after parents andrew and Kathy recently moved to Greece.

“Going solo has gone okay so far,” said robson. “It is different but I am more mature now, I have to be. I do not finish at the national Centre at roe-hampton until quite late and I am nor-mally quite tired, so I am pretty much just reading in the evenings and watch-ing Game of Thrones to relax.

“I could have done a bit better this season but I feel I have been playing better in the last couple of weeks and I am feeling more confident.

“I think I am a better all-round player than I was last year. I have been work-ing a lot on my volleys, especially hav-ing played a lot of doubles recently, and that will really help me on grass.”

robson started working with andy

Murray’s former coach Miles Maclagan earlier this month after splitting from Croatian Zeljko Krajan.

Maclagan, 38, who coached Murray between 2007 and 2010, has never worked on the women’s tour but rob-son believes he can take her game to the next level.

“Tactically he is a good coach and that is what my decision was based on,” said

SW19 latest

standard.co.uk/tennis

Keep up to date with all the news and results on our mobile-friendly website

Q is for…Queue, The. Here’s praying that

this sodden summer of ours lightens up, or there’ll be trench foot in the tents outside SW19. Good luck, campers.

R is for…Royal Box Bingo. Spot celebrities,

earn points! HRHs below the age of sixty score 1 point. Middletons and Beckhams score 2 points. Ageing chat-show hosts (Wogans, Parkinsons, etc) score 3 points. Anyone wanted for questioning by Operation Yewtree earns you instant disqualification.

S is for…Strawberries. Pound-for-pound

(or should that be punnet for punnet?) the SW19 strawberries are more expensive than gold. That £1.6m singles championship cheque doesn’t write itself, you know.

T is for…Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried. Is it just us, or

does the Frenchman nudge his way a little bit closer to the top table every year? When he’s in the mood — as he was when he blasted Federer out of Wimbledon in the quarter-finals in 2011, and again this year when he knocked the Swiss out of French Open at the same stage — he can be unplayable. One Slam final in the last six seasons is a poor return on his talent.

U is for…Umbrellas. Users,

remember: the spokes are spiky. I’ve nearly lost an

eye in the bustling paths around Wimbledon more times than I can count. Be careful with those things!

V is for…Verbal diarrhoea.

Unfortunate but sporadic affliction of TV match commentators. Is there an option to watch with court noises on but talking off? I’d pay extra licence fee for that.

W is for…Williams, Serena. Sixteen

Grand Slam singles titles. Thirteen Grand Slam doubles titles. Two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. Four Olympic gold medals. I know we rave about Roger Federer. But seriously: the defending singles and doubles champion in the ladies’ championship is flipping ridonkulous. We’ll miss her when she’s gone.

X is for…X-Factor, Xylophone, X-Ray, Xena

The Warrior Princess and a bunch of other stuff that begins with X. But nothing related to Wimbledon. Sorry!

Y is for…Youth. The boys’ tournament

hasn’t thrown up a future men’s champion since Roger Federer in 1998. Where have the prodigies gone?

Z is for…Zero. Likelihood that the BBC will

go more than 15 minutes without plugging their whizzy new iPlayer coverage. Okay, we get it. It’s 2013. We’re impressed.

� � Monday�24�June�2013��eVening STandaRd

When iS iT on?The tournament started today

and runs until Sunday July 7 with one day off, the first Sunday, weather permitting of course.

Can i STill geT TiCkeTS?

Yes, tickets are on sale on each day of play and there is a solitary queue for them — the gate three turnstiles. Showcourt tickets (Centre and Courts 1-3) range from £37 to £130 while a general admission ticket to the grounds costs from £5 to £20. Several hundred Centre Court and Court 3 tickets are sold online on the day before play via www.ticketmaster.com

WhaT aboUT if i Can’T make iT To The eVenT oR geT TiCkeTS?

Don’t worry, the BBC will be covering it once more with about 100 cameras around the ground, beaming pictures to a global audience of about 900m people.

Who aRe The faVoURiTeS?

Novak Djokovic is the favourite to win the men’s singles title at 11-4 while Rafael Nadal, fresh from his French Open favourite, and Britain’s Andy Murray, are level pegging at both about 15-4. Defending champion Serena Williams is the runaway favourite in the women’s singles at 4-7.

WhaT’S The pRiZe on offeR

There has been a 40 per cent rise in prize money since last year’s event with a whopping £22.56m on offer. The winner of the men’s and women’s singles will pocked £1.6m each while even first-round losers will bank £23,500.

WhaT’S The food and dRink like

It’s the largest single annual sporting catering operation in Europe. In all, about 300,000 cups of tea will be sold, 200,000 glasses of Pimm’s, 25,000 bottles of champagne, 28,000kg (112,000 punnets) of strawberries and

12,000kg of poached and smoked salmon.

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Sport Wimbledon 2013

all YoU need To knoW aboUT SW19

Dan Jones gives you the lowdown, including a brief dig at Rafa’s jockstraps

atoZWimbledona is for…

Atmosphere. Not the decibel level on Centre Court but the weather conditions. With the roof closed, it’s a radically different place to play — and one that particularly suits the defending champion Roger Federer. Keep an eye on the rainclouds.

b is for…Barker, Sue. Developing a crush

on her since she grew the bob out. There, said it. Next!

C is for…Crying. Now virtually obligatory

at the end of the men’s final. Who will be blubbing this year?

d is for…‘Deliciano’. Aka

Feliciano Lopez, hunky Spaniard and Judy Murray’s fantasy beau. Well off his game lately, so maybe there’s a job vacancy coming open in Cougar Town.

e is for…Extravagance. Can people really

be trading men’s singles final tickets for £13,000 a pop, already? Austerity, what?

f is for…Favourite. ie Novak Djokovic, who

has slipped nicely under the radar during this year’s build-up, despite being world No1 and Australian Open champion. Unplayable at his best and has a score to settle with Nadal after their French Open semi this month.

g is for…Grunt! Grruugh! Gyaaah!

Gnnnnph! Gwwarth! Oh, for God’s sake, shut up.

h is for…Hawkeye. A clear-cut

example of tech improving sport. Not simply because it helps players cope with

marginal line-calls but because the crowd really like clapping it

and shouting ‘wooooh!’ when it’s used. Simple pleasures, Wimbledon. Simple pleasures.

i is for…Isner, John and Mahut, Nicolas.

Their 11+ hour first-round match in 2010 still ranks as the maddest in living memory. 6–4, 3–6, 6–7 (7–9), 7–6 (7–3), 70–68! Brilliant.

J is for…Jockstrap, Rafa Nadal’s. Does

he have to yank it out of his buttock-crack between every single point? We have two words for you, Rafa: boxer briefs.

k is for…Knee, Rafa Nadal’s.

Does he have to yank it out of his buttock-crack… wait, no, we did that one already. Rafa’s long lay-off on account of his gammy leg-joints has hurt his ranking but not his talent. If seeded fifth, he could be a nasty surprise for one of the other big boys in the quarter-finals. Beware!

l is for…Lendl, Ivan. Who will be sainted,

knighted, immortalised and more if you-know-who finally does the you-know-what. And why not?

n is for…Nottingham, where Elena

Baltacha won a title this month, while Heather Watson and Laura Robson both bombed out of Edgbaston early. A glimmer of hope for the British women?

o is for…

Octochampion. Does Federer

have one more Wimbledon title in him? It would pull

him clear of Pete Sampras on seven and level him with Nadal, for a year at least, as an eight-times winner of a

single tournament. You know, in case he needs motivation.

p is for…Pimm’s. Has

anyone ever actually managed to get drunk on it? Serious question.

m is for…Mount, Murray. Or is it

Mound, Murray? The hill, anyway: still the democratic hub of the All-England Club, where even the most fleeting cutaway crowd shot on the big screen is enough to have two thousand middle-class picnickers leaping to their feet, waving their umbrellas about, spilling their Pimm’s and yelling WOO! One of the few remaining places on Earth still impervious to cynicism. God bless it.