Wimbledon Crisis Center, Day 11

By Rosangel Valenti, TW Contributing Editor

Good morning. Today we await the semifinals of the Gentlemen's Singles at Wimbledon. As always, please treat this as your place to gather and discuss the day's tennis-related activities, or to match-call. It would be appreciated if you could keep the subject of discusion on tennis until the day's matches are completed - afterwards, it's OK to go off-topic here.

Daily Weather Report:

A few miles outside Wimbledon, I've been out and about today, and it's a bright day, fairly warm, with just a hint of a breeze, and probably 50% cloud cover.

Today in Wimbledon itself, a dry day is expected, with some sunny spells. In the evening, there's a possibility of some rain. Tomorrow's forecast suggests that although there is likely to be rain, much of it could come in the morning, and any showers during the afternoon are unlikely to be severely disruptive. The news for Sunday is less good - plenty of showers, and the possibility of prolonged rain in the afternoon.

Player of the Day:

Rainer Schuettler, for emerging the victor in one of the longest matches seen at Wimbledon (and certainly the longest we've seen this year). At the age of 32, he's reached his first Wimbledon semifinal - he's never been beyond the fourth round in nine earlier attempts. This is his best Slam performance since 2003, when he reached the final in Australia, and the fourth round in the other three Slams.

Match of the Day:

First up on Centre Court - Roger Federer versus Marat Safin. Federer lleads this head-to-head 8-2Both previous meetings on grass were won by Federer - on his way to the Wimbledon title in the third round last year, and in the Halle final in 2005, when Safin was able to take a set. Their meeting at the Australian Open, earlier in 2005, was of course won by the eventual Champion there, Safin.

Some Statistics:

Looking at yesterday's Crisis Center thread and the discussions there, I felt moved to calculate how well Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have been doing in terms of ease of winning over their opponents this year. Obviously this exercise is largely for "fun" - I'm not seriously suggesting that it takes into account all possible variables, such as their respective methods of winning points, difficulty of the matchups against various opponents for either player, or the importance of serving versus return statistics.

For what it's worth, both Federer and Nadal have, so far, each won 57.5% of points that they have played at Wimbledon this year, which I think in terms of Andrew's terminology indicates that they are both averaging a "clean kill" in each match. Nadal has played 936 points; Federer 858 points. Federer has won in straight sets each time; Nadal lost one set. Federer has played (and won) two tiebreaks; Nadal three. Federer has played 142 games, and won 65% of them; Nadal has played 157 games, and won 62% of them. So, on the bare statistics, there's little reason for gloom for the fans of either player - clearly, both are playing well.

As always, enjoy today's tennis.