KEVIN ANDERSON READY FOR BATTLE WITH WIMBLEDON CHAMPION, ANDY MURRAY
Wimbledon, London – South African tennis ace Kevin Anderson will use
the middle Sunday of Wimbledon to prepare well for his much anticipated
fourth round clash with defending Wimbledon champion Andy Murray
tomorrow (Monday).
Anderson, seeded 20 at this year’s Championships upset 16th seed Fabio
Fognini of Italy of Friday to earn his spot in the last sixteen of the
third Grand Slam of 2014. Anderson impressed as he came from two sets
to one down to beat the fancied Italian, 4-6 6-2 4-6 6-2 6-1 in round
three.
Neville Godwin, Anderson’s coach said that his charge had “done a great
job so far in London”. “Physically and mentally Kevin is ready for a
tough challenge. We have planned to do a light on court training
session today (Sunday) close to Monday’s match time and then just relax
and make sure Kevin is best prepared and ready for Andy Murray.” “This
is a great opportunity for Kevin and it is encouraging to see that
Kevin is putting himself in these positions more which is so positive”
continued Godwin.
Kevin Anderson will play Andy Murray second match after 13h00 London
time tomorrow (Monday) on Centre Court. The match will be televised
live on SuperSport.
Preview;
- Defending champion Murray will need to overcome big-serving Kevin Anderson if he is to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the 7th successive year. Murray has dropped a mere 19 games in reaching the round of 16 – the fewest he has ever dropped in reaching this stage at Wimbledon – and will hope to continue that form against Anderson on Monday. The South African is looking to become the first man from his country to reach the quarterfinals here since Wayne Ferreira in 1994.
NO. 3 ANDY MURRAY (GBR) v NO. 20 KEVIN ANDERSON (RSA)
Head-to-head: tied 1-1
2010 Australian Open Hard (O) R128
Murray 61 61 62 2011 Montreal-1000 Hard
(O) R32 Anderson 63 61
MURRAY
v
ANDERSON
27
Age
28
5
ATP
Ranking
18
28
Titles
2
129-31
Career Grand Slam
Record
28-21
40-7
Wimbledon
Record
6-5
452-142
Career
Record
163-123
77-15
Career Record -
Grass
17-15
30-11
2014
Record
25-12
4-1
2014 Record -
Grass
5-1
17-6
Career Five-Set
Record
8-5
7
Comebacks from 0-2
Down
2
132-82
Career Tiebreak
Record
86-77
6-6
2014 Tiebreak
Record
10-8
- MURRAY is bidding to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the 7th successive year. He is through to the round of 16 here for the 8th time in 9 years [NB He missed the event here in 2007 with a wrist injury]. He has lost in the round of 16 at Wimbledon just once in 2006 (l. Marcos Baghdatis).
- In the first 3 rounds here, Murray has defeated David Goffin 61 64 75, Blaz Rola 61 61 60, and No. 27 seed Roberto Bautista Agut 62 63 62.
- Murray has dropped only 19 games in the first 3 rounds. This is the fewest number of games Murray has dropped to reach the round of 16 here. This is the 3rd time he has reached the round of 16 here without dropping a set – after 2010 and 2013. On both previous occasions, he went on to reach the quarterfinals without dropping set.
- Murray’s 2nd round win over Rola was his joint-2nd best performance in a completed Grand Slam match (in terms of games dropped).
- Murray is bidding to extend his 16-match winning streak at the All England Club. As well as winning 2013 Wimbledon, he won the Olympic Tennis Event here in 2012 (d. Roger Federer).
- Murray recorded his 450th Tour-level match-win by defeating Goffin in the 1st round here. He became the 48th man in the Open Era- and just the 10th active player – to record 450 or more Tour-level match-wins. Tim Henman is the only other British man to have achieved the feat with a 496-274 win-loss record.
- If Murray defeats Anderson, he will face No. 11 seed Grigor Dimitrov or Leonardo Mayer in the quarterfinals. He leads Dimitrov 3-1 and Mayer 2-0 in previous meetings.
- Murray is bidding to become the first British man to successfully defend the Wimbledon title since Fred Perry successfully retained his 1935 Wimbledon title in 1936 [see Preview page 2].
- Last year here, Murray became the first British man to win the Wimbledon singles title in 77 years – since Perry in 1936 – after defeating Novak Djokovic 64 75 64 in the final. The triumph, on his 8th Wimbledon appearance, saw him go 2nd on the list for the most attempts before winning the Wimbledon title behind Goran Ivanisevic (14).
- Murray won his first Grand Slam title at the 2012 US Open, becoming the first British man to win a Grand Slam title since Perry at the 1936 US Championships. He defeated Djokovic 76(10) 75 26 36 62 in the final.
- Murray is the leading British man in history in terms of Grand Slam match-wins with a 129-31 win-loss record.
- Murray warmed up for Wimbledon by reaching the 3rd round at Queen’s, where as defending champion he lost to Radek Stepanek 76(10) 62 to end his 19-match Tour-level winning streak on grass. Murray has a 77-15 Tour-level win-loss record on grass overall. He also played a match at the Hurlingham exhibition event, defeating Tommy Robredo 62 76.
- Murray’s best result in 2014 is reaching his 14th Grand Slam semifinal at Roland Garros (l. Rafael Nadal). He also reached the semifinals at Acapulco (l. Dimitrov) and the quarterfinals at the Australian Open (l. Federer), Rotterdam (l. Marin Cilic), Miami-1000 (l. Djokovic) and Rome-1000 (l. Nadal).
- Murray is bidding to win his first title since 2013 Wimbledon. 5 of his 28 career titles have come on grass. As well as winning Wimbledon here last year, he won Queen’s in 2009 (d. James Blake), 2011 (d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga) and 2013 (d. Marin Cilic) and the 2012 Olympic Tennis Event.
- Murray is on a 5-match winning streak in 5-set matches. The last time he lost a 5-set match was against Djokovic in the semifinals at the 2012 Australian Open. He has a 3-1 win-loss record in 5-set matches at Wimbledon.
- Murray helped Great Britain to reach the Davis Cup World Group quarterfinals for the first time since 1986 this year. He won both of his singles matches in the first round tie against USA and one of his 2 singles rubbers in the quarterfinals against Italy.
- Murray is coached by 2006 Australian Open and Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo. His wider team includes his fitness trainers Jez Green and Matt Little, physio Mark Bender and hitting partner Dani Vallverdu.
- ANDERSON is bidding to reach the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam for the first time in 22 appearances. He has reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon for the 1st time in 6 appearances. He has also reached the round of 16 for the 5th time in the past 7 Slams.
- In the first 3 rounds here, he defeated lucky loser Aljaz Bedene 63 75 62, Edouard Roger-Vasselin 76(0) 16 63 64, and No. 16 seed Fabio Fognini 46 64 26 62 61.
- Anderson is bidding to become the first South African man to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals since Wayne Ferreira in 1994. Ferreira was also the last South African man to reach the round of 16 here in 2000. Kevin Curren holds the record for the best performance by a South African man at Wimbledon, reaching the semifinals in 1983. [Curren later finished as Wimbledon runner-up representing USA in1985.]
- Anderson has reached the round of 16 for the 3rd consecutive Grand Slam and equalled his best performance at a major. He also reached the last 16 at the Australian Open in 2013 (l. Tomas Berdych) and in 2014 (l. Berdych), and at Roland Garros in 2013 (l. David Ferrer) and in 2014 (l. Ferrer).
- Anderson’s 3rd round victory over world No. 15 Fognini is his biggest victory at a Slam and ended a 5-match losing streak against Top 20 opposition. His win over No. 16 Milos Raonic at 2013 Roland Garros is the only other time he has defeated a Top 20 player at a major.
- Anderson is bidding for this 3rd victory over a Top 5 player in 2014. He defeated No. 4 David Ferrer on a retirement at Acapulco, and No. 3 Stan Wawrinka at Indian Wells-1000. He has a 5-10 overall win-loss record against Top 10 players.
- If Anderson defeats Murray, he will face No. 11 seed Grigor Dimitrov or Leonardo Mayer in the quarterfinals. He trails Dimitrov 4-1 and is tied at 1-1 with Mayer in previous meetings.
- Anderson warmed up for Wimbledon by reaching the quarterfinals at Queen’s, where as No. 7 seed he lost to Radek Stepanek 16 63 62. He also played 2 matches at the Boodles exhibition event, defeating Jack Sock 61 76 10-7 and Dominic Thiem 64 76(7).
- Anderson’s best grass court result is reaching the quarterfinals at Queen’s in 2012 (l. Dimitrov) and in 2014 (l. Stepanek). This is only the 2nd time after his quarterfinal finish at 2012 Queen’s that he has recorded 3 consecutive Tour-level match-wins on grass.
- Anderson plays here on a career-high ranking of No. 18, first achieved after reaching the final at Acapulco (l. Dimitrov) in March. Anderson’s best results this year are reaching back-to-back finals at Delray Beach (l. Marin Cilic) and Acapulco.
- Anderson has won 2 career titles, both of which came on hard court. He won his first title in 2011 in his hometown of Johannesburg (d. Somdev Devvarman) and won the title as No. 7 seed at 2012 Delray Beach (d. Marinko Matosevic). He won his 1st doubles title at 2014 Acapulco (with Matthew Ebden).
- Anderson attended the University of Illinois in 2005-07winning the NCAA collegiate doubles title in 2006, and reaching the NCAA singles semifinals in 2007.
- Anderson received travel grants from the Grand Slam Development Fund to play junior events in 2004.
- Anderson is coached by Neville Godwin, who reached the round of 16 here in 1996.
