Wimbledon

Five facts about the Wimbledon men's final

2018-07-15 07:34

London - Five facts on Sunday's Wimbledon men's singles final between Novak Djokovic and Kevin Anderson:

Djokovic 22 Anderson 2

Novak Djokovic is contesting his 22nd Grand Slam final. He has a 12-9 win-loss record in major finals, and has won three of his four previous Wimbledon championship matches. Anderson is contesting his second Grand Slam final, having lost to Nadal in straight sets at the 2017 US Open on his only previous appearance in the title match at a major.

Breaking the age barrier

With Anderson (32 years 58 days) and Djokovic (31 years 54 days) through to the final, this is the first time in the Open Era that the Wimbledon men's singles final has been contested by a pair of players aged 30 or over. Just five other men in the Open Era have reached the Wimbledon final after turning 30 -- Rod Laver (1969), Ken Rosewall (1970, 1974), Arthur Ashe (1975), Jimmy Connors (1984) and Roger Federer (2012, 2014-15, 2017).

Epic men

At 6 hours 36 minutes, Anderson's victory against John Isner in the semi-finals was the second-longest match in Grand Slam history. It is also the longest match that has ever been played on Centre Court and one of only three Grand Slam singles matches to have lasted longer than 6 hours -- after Isner's 11 hour 5 minute victory against Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010 and Fabrice Santoro's victory against Arnaud Clement at 2004 Roland Garros, which lasted 6 hours 33 minutes. The match was also the third-longest singles match in history, behind Isner's victory against Mahut and Leonardo Mayer's victory against Joao Souza in Argentina's victory against Brazil in the 2015 Davis Cup which lasted 6 hours 43 minutes.

At 5 hours 15 minutes, Djokovic's semi-final victory against Rafael Nadal was the fifth-longest men's singles match in Wimbledon history.

Anderson eyes Wimbledon landmark

Anderson is bidding to become the first South African man to win the Wimbledon title and just the second to win a Grand Slam title after Johan Kriek, who won the title at the 1981 Australian Open.

13 lucky number for Djokovic

Djokovic is bidding to win his 13th Grand Slam title and claim sole ownership of fourth place on the all-time list for most Grand Slam men's singles titles behind Roger Federer (20), Rafael Nadal (17), Pete Sampras (14) but ahead of Roy Emerson (12).

READ: Win or lose, Top 5 ranking awaits Anderson

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