Interesting Facts

The balls used in men's and women's tennis are different. (They are the same size, weight and pressure: between 2½ and 2 5/8 inches (6.35 and 6.67 cm) in diameter and weighing between 2 and 2 1/16 ounces (57.7 and 58.5 grams) but balls used by men have an extra-duty felt covering, which increases air resistance and slows the overall speed. Women players use regular-duty felt. Professional tennis player Bob Bryan, who uses both kinds of balls on the men's and mixed doubles circuit, believes he can add around six mph to his serve when playing with the women's regular balls. It is very difficult to write about this without sounding silly.)

Before you go off in a huff, love is a number - in tennis. (In France, where tennis became popular, the round nought on the scoreboard looked like an egg and was called 'l'oeuf,' which is French for 'the egg.'  Legend has it that when tennis was introduced in the US, Americans (mis)pronounced it 'love.') More about numbers here. Thanks Marianne

At Wimbledon yesterday four things happened. Federer won his 7th Wimbledon title and he won his 17th Grand Slam title. Whilst Andy Murray was the first Brit to play in a final since 1938 and the first Scot in over 100 years (in unity there is strength). (But things are a bit different nowadays. When Bunny Austin, became the last British runner-up in 1938 he was given the princely sum of a fiver. Yesterday, Mr Murray won £575,000.  Even Fred Perry, who won Wimbledon in 1936 only got a tenner, a tie, and a nice line in polo shirts.  Surely inflation hasn't been that bad!)

He was born Aug. 8, 1981 in Basel, Switzerland. Roger Federer was 18 when he won his first Grand Slam match in the first round of the Australian Open. Roger Federer was 19 when he won his first career title. He is the only player to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open consecutively three straight years. In 2001 he ended Pete Sampras' 31-match winning streak at Wimbledon in the fourth round before losing in the quarter-finals. His 2009 French Open win makes him only the sixth man to have won all four grand slam titles. The other five are: Fred Perry, Don Budge, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson and Andre Agassi. He's won a record 15th grand slam title after winning Wimbledon today, with a 5-7 7-6(6) 7-6(5) 3-6 16-14 defeat of American sixth seed Andy Roddick. His other wins are: Wimbledon, 2003-2007, 2009; US Open 2004-2008; Australian Open 2004, 2006, 2007; French Open 2009.

According to a spokesperson for the All England Club, physical attractiveness is taken into consideration when deciding who gets to play centre court at Wimbledon. (This only seems to apply to the ladies. In the men's tournament, five-times winner Roger Federer and British hope Andy Murray invariably play on Centre. But, after Federer left the court on Friday, the next match was Victoria Azarenka of Belarus against Romania's Sorana Cirstea. While both 19-year-olds have top form in the glamour department, Miss Cirstea was seeded 28 while Miss Azarenka, who won, is ranked and seeded eighth. That same day, second seed Serena Williams was relegated to the new No 2 Court for her win over Italian Roberta Vinci. On Wednesday, Centre delivered exactly that - the so-called Battle of the Babes between unseeded Gisela Dulko (world ranking 45) and unseeded Maria Sharapova (ranking 60). Then on Thursday, ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki defeated Russian Maria Kirilenko, 59 in the wor...

If you reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, you get free tea at the tournament for life. (Basically you join the ranks of Wimbledon's Last Eight Club, which was formed in 1986 as part of the 100th Championship celebrations. The club is open only to those who have contested a singles quarter-final or doubles semi-final at Wimbledon.)