Andy Murray’s route through ‘weird Wimbledon’
What was Andy Murray’s route to glory at “weird Wimbledon”, a competition which saw surprise early exits from some of the household names of tennis?
(Browse the graphic above to see which seed was knocked out of Wimbledon at which stage in the competition, including those beaten by finalists Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic)
Cynics could argue that Murray had an easier path to the Wimbledon final than his opponent Novak Djokovic. The highest seed Murray had to defeat on his way was Jerzy Janowicz, ranked 22nd in the world, in the semi-final.
Djokovic, on the other hand, had to defeat eighth seed Juan Martin del Potro in a gruelling semi-final, having also beaten number six seed Tomas Berdych in the quarter finals.
Those revelling in the Scot’s victory can, of course, argue that you can only play the person opposite you, and of course Murray did beat the world number one to claim Wimbledon victory.
Weird Wimbledon
But this year’s “weird Wimbledon”, in which a number of household names were surprise early exits, meant that neither Djokovic or Murray had matches against some old foes.
Rafa Nadal, ranked fifth in the world, was a surprise exit in the first round, when he was beaten by Belgian 135th ranked Steve Darcis.
Nadal has managed to rise one place in the latest ATP rankings, however, and is now at fourth. This is partly due to Roger Federer, who left Wimbledon following a second round defeat, falling down the list two places.
As third seed, Federer was beaten 116th ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine.
In the women’s game there were also shock early departures, including Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka in the second round, and the world number one Serena Williams in the fourth round.
There were also strong performances from those ranked way below the likes of Murray and Djokovic. Poland’s 31-year-old Lukas Kubot, ranked 130th in the world, made it to the quarter finals where he was defeated by Janowicz.
Other strong performances came from 111th ranked Adrian Mannarino of France, who left the competition in the fourth round, and the world number 80, Kenny de Schepper, who defeated Marin Cilic in the second round, but was defeated in the fourth.