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Defending champions Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic will meet Australians Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell for the first time Saturday in the Wimbledon men's doubles final. 

Both teams saved at least one match point in a pair of five-set semi-final victories, with Ebden/Purcell saving five in a a 3-6, 6-7(1), 7-6(9), 6-4, 6-2 comeback against top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury. While the 14th seeds battled back from two sets down, Mektic/Pavic twice came back from a set down against former champions Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal in a 6-7(2), 7-6(0), 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(10-4) thriller, saving a match point on the Mektic serve at 4-5 in the decider.

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Mektic/Pavic, the second seeds, bring a 13-match winning streak into the final, in addition to their 11-match winning streak at Wimbledon. The Croatians won at The Queen's Club and Eastbourne in the lead-up to Wimbledon, giving them four titles on the season (Rome, Geneva). They have won 13 titles as a pair since teaming up for the 2021 ATP Tour season.

Aussies Ebden/Purcell lifted their lone trophy as a duo in Houston this April and reached the final at the Australian Open and in s'Hertogenbosch. The Wimbledon marathon men have gone the distance in four of their five matches this fortnight and twice came back from two sets down; they won a 10-8 fifth-set tie-break in the opening round against Ben McLachlan and Andre Goransson in their other great escape.

Cameron Norrie rallied to a five-set quarter-final victory against David Goffin at Wimbledon on Tuesday in a thrilling demonstration of why he is regarded as one of the mentally and physically toughest players on Tour. Yet the ninth seed’s will to win through to a maiden Grand Slam semi-final came as no surprise to David Roditi, the Briton’s former Head Coach at Texas Christian University.

“[I] just [remember] how competitive he was,” Roditi told ATPTour.com this week. “Brutally competitive. Sometimes in practice, we had some great players like [World No. 310] Alex Rybakov, almost at the same level. I think Cameron beat him 21 times in practice, in 21 sets.

“Even when Alex could use a little confidence, Cameron would just beat him. We were kind of looking at Cameron going, ‘Hey, he needs a little confidence, let him take a set in practice’. He wouldn’t, he was just ultra-competitive. He doesn’t show it through his emotions a lot, but he is super competitive, and it’s like he doesn’t care how a person feels, he is just going to beat you.”

Norrie competed for the Horned Frogs from 2015 to 2017. Despite the high level he regularly displayed on the court in Fort Worth, it was not all plain sailing for Norrie during his time at TCU. Roditi acknowledges that Norrie, like most 19-year-olds, had some growing to do when he arrived in the United States.

“He was still immature in some ways, he made some mistakes,” said Roditi. “But it was in an environment where we could work with him, he could learn from them, and we weren’t going to shame him or anything. It was just opportunities for him to learn. Obviously, there were some things on the court that he improved, but that was just part of the process, let’s say. Just that discipline, accountability, is what improved a lot.”

The 2022 Wimbledon men’s singles champion will be crowned on Sunday, 10th July. As we approach the final weekend of The Championships, it’s time to show how well you know tournament history!

We recently put ATP Tour stars, including Great Britain’s Andy Murray and Cameron Norrie, to the test in our Head-to-Head Challenge. While they had the extra task of naming the specific champion for each year, going backwards from the 2021 edition, you only need to identify the seven different winners since 2000.

There's one minute on the clock for the Wimbledon Champions Challenge. Think you have what it takes to get all seven? Take the quiz, share your results and challenge your tennis friends!

For an extra challenge, try to name the champions of each edition from 2000-21 and watch the video to see how you measure up against the likes of Murray, Marin Cilic and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Murray did 'alright', by his own assessment, but lamented one mistake. “There was one disappointing one though, where I got the Federer vs Nadal classic, the wrong way around. That would’ve helped.” 

For Philipp Kohlschreiber, 1 August 2018 is a day that sticks in the memory.

In the morning, he married his long-term girlfriend, Lena Alberti. In the afternoon, he was in Kitzbuehel, tearing around the court in a second-round match against Denis Istomin. The story is a reflection of the German’s commitment to a 20-year career on the ATP Tour, which he brought to a close at Wimbledon two weeks ago.

“[It was] very unique,” said Kohlschreiber of his wedding day when speaking to ATPTour.com about his retirement this week. “I had been a little bit sick, so I couldn’t play the day before. I needed to get a little bit more rest to get ready for Kitzbuehel (where he was the defending champion).

"When you’re a professional guy, everything you do is for your sport… But you have to make a good date for your wedding, so it is easy to remember. 1 August 2018, it is always very simple for me. In that case, the wedding was a little bit more important!”

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Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski successfully defended their Wimbledon mixed doubles crown Thursday by claiming the first trophy on offer this fortnight at The Championships. The American-British pair defeated Australians Matthew Ebden and Sam Stosur 6-4 6-3 to back up their 2021 title run on Centre Court.

"Two in a row baby, at Wimbledon," Krawczyk said to her partner during the trophy ceremony.

Skupski, who was delighted to be playing in front of his parents at his home Grand Slam, revealed that the pair had not been planning on defending its title until just before the tournament.

"I got a last-minute call from Des to play," he said. "We weren't meant to play, so we've only been a team for two weeks. We'll have to go for three next year, if she plays with me," he added with a smile.

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Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from Wimbledon ahead of Friday's semi-finals due to an abdominal tear, he announced in a Thursday evening press conference at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

"I have been suffering with pain in the abdominal... there is a tear in the muscle," he said. "I made the decision because I don't believe I can win two matches under these circumstances."

The Spaniard struggled with the injury during his five-set quarter-final victory against Taylor Fritz, but said following the match that the problem started days earlier. Despite his father and sister urging him to retire early in that match, Nadal managed to twice come from a set down to advance 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(10-4) after four hours, 20 minutes. Nadal's first-serve speed dipped significantly as he compensated for the injury, often dropping under 100 mph.

He was set to take on Nick Kyrgios in the semi-finals on Centre Court.

"Not only I can't serve at the right speed, I can't do the normal movement to serve," Nadal explained. "I don't want to go out there and not be competitive enough to play at the level to achieve my goal. And there is a big chance to make the thing much worse."

Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell’s hopes appeared all but over in their Wimbledon semi-final against top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury on Thursday, but the Australian pair turned things around in spectacular style to seal a championship match spot at the grass-court Grand Slam.

Ebden and Purcell fended off five match points for their opponents in the third-set tie-break, a pivotal moment in their 3-6, 6-7(1), 7-6(9), 6-4, 6-2 victory on No. 1 Court. The 14th seeds used the momentum from that third-set escape to dominate the second half of an enthralling three-hour, 59-minute encounter, breaking serve four times to reach their second major final of the season.

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It is the second time that Ebden and Purcell have beaten Ram and Salisbury in a Grand Slam semi-final this year, having also defeated the American-British duo in the last four at January’s Australian Open. Thursday’s win in London extended the pair’s Grand Slam match record to 13-3.

Awaiting the Australian pair in Saturday’s final will be defending champions Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic or 2019 winners Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

Eight years after Wimbledon debutant Nick Kyrgios stunned Rafael Nadal in the 2014 fourth round, the two men will square off again Friday for a place in the 2022 title match.

Only three of their previous nine ATP Head2Head matchups were decided in straight sets, with three of their box-office contests coming at the majors and four at the ATP Masters 1000 level. But their 10th meeting is their most intriguing yet, such are the storylines woven through each man's progress to the semi-final stage. (Learn how Nadal has built a 6-3 advantage in the rivalry.)

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For starters, Nadal was not even sure that he would walk out onto Centre Court for the match following his quarter-final victory over Taylor Fritz. After delivering a Herculean effort to overcome an abdominal injury and twice come from behind in a five-set epic, the Spaniard could not confirm whether he would be fit to compete again in the semi-finals.

While he awaits further tests to reveal the extent of the injury, which primarily affected his serve against Fritz, he had no doubts about the level of his tennis from the baseline.

Two classic five-set comebacks set the stage for Friday's Wimbledon semi-final between Novak Djokovic and Cameron Norrie, both of whom will benefit from two days' rest before the showdown encounter.

Djokovic escaped a two-set deficit against Jannik Sinner, dominating the final three on Centre Court, while Great Britain's Norrie battled back from two-sets-to-one down against David Goffin. Norrie's triumph was boosted by support from the No. 1 Court crowd, which included Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Duke and Duchess Of Cambridge.

The South African-born and New Zealand-raised Londoner has carried the hopes of his adopted nation as the last Briton standing in the men's and women's singles draws since the quarter-final stage. The ninth seed called on British fans to help see him through to the semi-finals and hopes for similar support when he returns to Centre Court for the second time this fortnight.

"I think at the end of the fourth [set]... I really got the crowd involved," he said of his match against Goffin on Tuesday. "From then on, they were behind me every point. I think it frustrated him a little bit. Maybe that was the difference."

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Rafael Nadal’s team implored him to retire after the Spaniard had treatment on an abdominal issue in the second set of his thrilling quarter-final win against Taylor Fritz at Wimbledon on Wednesday. With an unbeaten record at major tournaments in 2022 on the line and just three retirements in his past decade on Tour, however, that decision was never going to sit well with the two-time champion.

“They told me I needed to retire from the match,” said Nadal in his post-match press conference after his dramatic 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(10-4) win. “For me it was tough to retire in the middle of the match. [It was] not easy, even if I had that idea for such a long time.

“I did it a couple of times in my tennis career. It’s something that I hate to do. So, I just kept trying, and that's it.”

Clearly in discomfort and unable to serve at full power on Centre Court, Nadal showcased his trademark resilience to rally and clinch a stunning four-hour, 20-minute victory. He admitted that it was less the medical time-out and more his desire to see things through to the end that enabled him to carry on.

“They can't do much [in the medical time-out], honestly,” said the 36-year-old. “The doctor came, gave me some anti-inflammatories and analgesic. The physio just tried to relax the muscle there a little bit, but it's difficult. Nothing can be fixed when you have a thing like this. That's it.

Taylor Fritz came close to the biggest win of his career on Wednesday at Wimbledon against Rafael Nadal. But instead of advancing to his first major semi-final, the American lost against the 22-time major winner in a final-set tie-break and walked off court shattered.

“It was a tough match. I think I did some things well and some things not as good. In the end he was just really, really, really good,” Fritz said. “Certain parts of the match I felt like maybe I kind of just needed to come up with more, do more. I left a lot up to him, and he delivered. It was a great match. Honestly, probably hurts more than any loss I've ever had.”

The 24-year-old showed his dismay as he walked to the net to shake hands with Nadal, and took a moment at his chair before leaving the court.

“After the match was over, I was sitting there and I felt like crying, like I wanted to cry,” Fritz said. “I’ve never felt like that ever after a loss. I've never felt like I could cry after a loss. Just that's telling enough to know that this one hurt more than any other one's hurt before.”

The good news for Fritz is that he pushed the two-time Wimbledon champion to the absolute limits in his first major quarter-final. Although he was unable to claw past the Spaniard, Fritz showed he is capable of testing the best in the sport on tennis’ biggest stages.

Rafael Nadal and Taylor Fritz put on a show on Wednesday evening at Wimbledon, with the Spaniard prevailing in a five-set thriller to reach his eighth Wimbledon semi-final.

While the pair exchanged blows on Centre Court, a vocal crowd watched on in support, gasping in astonishment at the shotmaking that was on display at SW19. After the clash, ATPTour.com spoke to some of the lucky fans who had witnessed Nadal clinch another memorable victory on the lawns in London.

“I thought it was absolutely amazing,” said Andre Richards [below right], aged 63 from London. “When it started we thought it was going to be Taylor’s match. Then as it went on it was so even. Over the 35 years I have been coming, that was there with the Nadal and Roger Federer final that I went to in 2008. Nadal and Federer was probably the greatest match ever and that match tonight really rivals it. It was amazing.”

Photo Credit: Sam Jacot/ATP Tour
Babs Smith from Lincolnshire, England, watched the match donned out in fancy dress. For her, the victory meant a lot.

“What a match. I was chuffed for Nadal. It was point for point. The atmosphere was crazy and enthralling throughout,” Babs [below left] said. “Anybody could have won and nobody deserves to lose but experience came through on the day. Nadal is a legend and we are so happy.”

Rafael Nadal and Nick Kyrgios will meet on Friday a blockbuster Wimbledon semi-final, their third clash at The Championships.

Nadal currently leads their ATP Head2Head 6-3, and the Spaniard is pursuing a record-extending 23rd major title. Kyrgios is trying to reach his first Grand Slam final. ATPTour.com looks back at the pair’s previous ATP Head2Head meetings.

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2022 Indian Wells QF, hard, Nadal d. Kyrgios 7-6(0), 5-7, 6-4
Every clash between Nadal and Kyrgios is highly anticipated, and their 2022 meeting at Indian Wells was no different. This time, Nadal carried a perfect 18-0 record on the season into the match.

Kyrgios brought some of his best tennis, even earning two break points in his first return game of the deciding set. But Nadal and his battling spirit refused to give in, and the Spaniard triumphed 7-6(0), 5-7, 6-4 after two hours and 46 minutes.

Top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury are through to the Wimbledon semi-finals for the second straight year following a dramatic, five-set victory Wednesday at The Championships. The American-British pairing outlasted 12th seeds Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, 6-3, 6-7(1), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.

Ram-Salisbury sealed victory with their fourth break of the match in its final game, confirming their progress to their seventh Grand Slam semi-final as a team, all since 2020. Champions at the 2020 Australian Open and the 2021 US Open, the pair is bidding for its first final at doubles World No. 1 Salisbury's home major.

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The top seeds created the bulk of the chances in the three-hour, 17-minute contest, finishing four-of-nine on break points while dropping serve just once on three break points against. But their French opponents dominated the second-set tie-break and capitalised on their lone break of the match in the fourth set to force a decider on No. 2 Court.

Late in the second set, Ram-Salisbury thought they earned a break of serve to move ahead 6-5, but a successful challenge saw the call overturned, giving the Frenchmen new life. While Mahut and Roger-Vasselin used that momentum to run away with the ensuing tie-break, Ram-Salisbury snapped back to take the first five games of the third set.

Rafael Nadal and Taylor Fritz’s Wimbledon quarter-final has entered a deciding set after the second-seeded Spaniard dug deep to level proceedings Wednesday on Centre Court.

Nadal, who won the Australian Open in January and Roland Garros in June, is seeking to keep his bid for the 2022 Grand Slam alive at the grass-court major in London. For the 11th seed Fritz, a first Grand Slam semi-final spot is on the line.

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The American reeled off five games in a row to clinch the first set, before Nadal left the court for a medical timeout when leading 4-3 in the second set. Although the Spaniard still appeared in clear discomfort, particularly when serving, he stayed aggressive to break Fritz’s serve twice to level the match.

Fritz, bidding to become the youngest American man to reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon since Andy Roddick in 2005, looked to have regained control of the match after he capitalised on Nadal errors to break twice and ease to the third set, before more solid groundstrokes earned him another break in the opening game of the fourth. The Spaniard was typically resolute, however, going for his shots to keep points short to prevail in a fourth set that featured five breaks of serve.

Nick Kyrgios reached his first Grand Slam semi-final on Wednesday, overcoming Chilean Cristian Garin 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(5) in front of a raucous crowd on Court No. 1 at Wimbledon. The 27-year-old is the first Australian man to advance to the last four at a major since Lleyton Hewitt reached that stage at the US Open in 2005.

Kyrgios overpowered Garin with his thunderous ball striking, while he also demonstrated great touch from all areas of the court to earn the biggest win of his season after two hours and 13 minutes.

“An amazing atmosphere out here again. I just never thought that I would be in the semi-finals at a Grand Slam. I thought that ship had sailed,” Kyrgios said in his on-court interview. “I didn’t go about things great earlier in my career and may have missed my window. I am really proud of the way I have come back out here.”

Most Grass Wins (2022)

The No. 40 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, who was playing in his third major quarter-final and first since the 2015 Australian Open, will next meet second-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal or American Taylor Fritz. Kyrgios trails 22-time major champion Nadal 3-6 in their ATP Head2Head series, while he has never played Indian Wells titlist Fritz.

For a little over an hour on Tuesday, Rafael Nadal practised on Court 16 at Wimbledon with his sights set on his next encounter; Wednesday’s quarter-final against Taylor Fritz. Accompanied by Francisco Roig and Marc Lopez, his two coaches, the 22-time Grand Slam champion was working hard to keep alive his chances of reclaiming a title he won in 2008 and 2010.

“It’s good,” Roig told ATPTour.com after the training session. “We managed to train a lot, there were a couple of days when we almost played for four hours. When we got here, the first thing was to be able to compete. He arrived here unsure about his foot treatment in Mallorca, even though it went well for him.

“The goal was to keep playing better every day. Now we’re in that situation. Given how last-minute it was, we can be happy after three years without playing on grass. So far, we’re doing well. When we arrived, we weren’t thinking about winning, but now he is among the favourites.”

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To stay on track for a third Wimbledon crown, Nadal must next move past Fritz, with whom he shares a 1-1 ATP Head2Head record. In March, the American defeated the Spaniard in the final of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, a match in which Nadal played with a rib fracture that subsequently kept him out of action until the Mutua Madrid Open in early May.

Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic’s red-hot form on the grass shows no sign of abating at Wimbledon.

The defending champions eased to a 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 quarter-final victory against 11th seeds Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies on Tuesday at the grass-court major. The win extended the all-Croatian team’s winning streak to 12 matches, following its title runs at The Queen’s Club and Eastbourne in the lead-up to The Championships.

Mektic and Pavic were dominant behind serve, facing no break points and winning 85 per cent (45/53) of points behind their first delivery to keep two-time Roland Garros champions Krawietz and Mies under constant pressure. The second seeds converted four of their six break points to register a one-hour, 39-minute win and improve their record as a team at Wimbledon to 10-0.

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Their next opponents will be Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. The Colombian duo advanced to their second semi-final at the All England Lawn Tennis Club after Denis Kudla and Jack Sock retired from the quarter-final clash with the Colombians leading 6-3, 6-3, 6-7(3).

Taylor Fritz has enjoyed the best run at a major of his career at Wimbledon, where he is into the quarter-finals without losing a set. The 11th-seeded American will face a tough challenge in the last eight against second seed Rafael Nadal, who has won the first two majors of the season.

It will be a rematch of this year's BNP Paribas Open final, in which Fritz defeated Nadal for his first ATP Masters 1000 title.

Before the match, ATPTour.com caught up with Fritz's coach, Michael Russell, to speak about his charge's run at SW19, his message for Fritz, why the 24-year-old needs to be aggressive against Nadal and more.

How fun has it been for you to see all the hard work coming out at another big event like this?
It’s great. You know how tennis is, there are so many ups and downs. Taylor had the injury during the clay-court season with Madrid and Rome and then a couple first-round, early exits in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and in Queen’s.

We put a really good week of training in before Eastbourne and then obviously had that unbelievable week in Eastbourne, not even losing serve and then continued to take that into Wimbledon. It’s fantastic. That’s the pinnacle of coaching. You put the hard work in and then you see the results.

The Wimbledon quarter-final action rounds out Wednesday when Rafael Nadal, Taylor Fritz, Nick Kyrgios and Cristian Garin take to the lawns at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in pursuit of a final-four spot.

Nadal and Fritz will meet for the first time since their championship match clash at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells in March. The American ran out a straight-sets winner on that occasion as the Spaniard struggled with a fractured rib, but second seed Nadal has the added motivation of maintaining his perfect Grand Slam record for 2022 as the two face off at the grass-court major.

Kyrgios and Garin each came through five-set thrillers in the fourth round in London, and the pair's maiden ATP Head2Head meeting sees both players hunting their first Grand Slam semi-final appearance.

ATPTour.com looks at the quarter-final action set for Day 9 in the British capital.

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