Wimbledon 2017: Federer equaling Santoro’s record, Serena missing out on equaling another Graf’s record and more interesting stats

World number one Andy Murray will start his quest to retain the Wimbledon men’s singles title on Monday.

Murray will join a select group of players to successfully defend the crown in the Open era should he do so, but there will be a new champion on the women’s side with the pregnant Serena Williams not competing.

Petra Kvitova is among the favourites for the women’s singles, with the Czech one of the few to break the Williams sisters’ stranglehold.

Victory for Kvitova would be a third at the All England Tennis Club in her career and would cap a remarkable comeback from injuries sustained in a knife attack in December.

Here, with the help of Opta, we look at some of the key facts ahead of this year’s championships.

Men’s singles:

– The last 14 years at Wimbledon have been dominated by the same four players: Roger Federer (7), Novak Djokovic (3), Rafael Nadal (2) and Andy Murray (2). The last winner at SW19 before them was Lleyton Hewitt in 2002.

– Since Wimbledon 2004, at least one of Federer, Djokovic and Nadal has been in the semi-final of every Grand Slam (52 times).

– This will be the 70th appearance at a grand slam event for Federer, equalling Fabrice Santoro’s record.

– The last five grand slam tournaments have seen five different winners – something that had not happened since 2002-2003.

– Federer could become the first player to win Wimbledon eight times, taking him clear of Pete Sampras and William Renshaw.

– Before this year, on three of the four previous occasions he won the Australian Open, Federer also went on to win Wimbledon (2004, 2006 and 2007).

– Meanwhile, Nadal has managed to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year twice so far in his career (2008 and 2010).

– In fact, Nadal was the last player to win a French Open-Wimbledon double, doing so in 2010.

– Andy Murray could become the ninth player to retain the Wimbledon title in the Open era. The last one to do so was Novak Djokovic in 2015.

– No man has won Wimbledon without dropping a set since Bjorn Borg in 1976, the only player to achieve that feat at the Championships in the Open era; it was done three times previously in the Amateur era.

– Should Stan Wawrinka win Wimbledon, he would become the ninth player to complete a career Grand Slam, having already won the Australian Open (2014), Roland-Garros (2015) and US Open (2016).

– Marin Cilic has reached the quarter-final stage in each of his last three Wimbledon appearances, one of just three players to manage this (Federer and Murray as well).

– Dominic Thiem is yet to make it past the second round in three attempts at Wimbledon, losing to unseeded players at that stage in 2015 and 2016 and losing to qualifier Luke Saville in the opening round in 2014.

– Wimbledon is the only grand slam at which Kei Nishikori has not reached the quarter-finals at least once in his career, his win rate of 61 per cent is his lowest at any of the four showpiece events in the tennis calendar.

First practice session at #AorangiPark! pic.twitter.com/d0TQ7SJK0Z

— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) June 26, 2017

Women’s singles:

– Serena Williams has won the last two Women’s singles titles at Wimbledon, however due to her withdrawal from the tournament, she will miss the chance to become the first player since Steffi Graf in 1993 to lift the title for the third year in a row.

– Eighteen of the last 19 champions have been from either the United States (13 titles), Czech Republic (3) or France (2), with only Maria Sharapova’s win in 2004 breaking up that sequence.

– Meanwhile, 12 of the last 17 editions of Wimbledon have been won by one of the Williams sisters (Serena 7, Venus 5).

– Nine of the last 10 finals have been played out over two sets. The only exception being Serena Williams’ win over Agnieszka Radwanska in 2012.

– Johanna Konta will participate at Wimbledon for the first time as a top-10 seeded player, however she’s only managed to win one match at the Championships (2016 v Monica Puig), being knocked out in the first round in four of her five appearances.

– World number one, Angelique Kerber, comes into this year’s tournament having failed to make it past the fourth round in either of the first two grand slams of 2017, this after reaching the final in three of the four slams in 2016.

Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations! pic.twitter.com/R1nEaBw3Vc

— Angelique Kerber (@AngeliqueKerber) June 2, 2017

– Since winning Wimbledon in 2014, Petra Kvitova has made it past the fourth round just once in her last 10 Grand Slams, including a third-round exit at Wimbledon in 2015 and a second-round exit last year.

– Just three players have won Wimbledon in the Open era more often than Venus Williams (5 times, behind Navratilova, Graf and Serena).

– Kvitova (2011, 2014) is the only non-American woman to win Wimbledon more than once since Steffi Graf’s last title in 1996.

– Karolina Pliskova has reached at least the quarter-finals in three consecutive slams, she’s never made it past the second round at Wimbledon (5 attempts).

– Wimbledon is the only grand slam at which Caroline Wozniacki has never reached the quarter-finals (10 appearances in main draw).