2008 Wimbledon Championships

Point and prize money distribution

Point distribution

Below are the tables with the point distribution for each discipline of the tournament.

Senior points

Prize distribution

The total prize money for 2008 championships was £11,812,000. The winner of the men's and women's singles title earned £750,000.

• per team

Champions

Seniors

Men's singles

Main article: 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles, 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles final

ESP Rafael Nadal def. SUI Roger Federer, 6–4, 6–4, 6–7(5–7), 6–7(8–10), 9–7

• It was Rafael Nadal's sixth title of the year, and his 29th overall. It was his second Grand Slam title of the year, his fifth overall, and his first Wimbledon title.

Women's singles

Main article: 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles

USA Venus Williams def. USA Serena Williams, 7–5, 6–4

• It was Venus Williams's first title of the year, and her 37th overall. It was her seventh Grand Slam title, her fifth Wimbledon win, and her second consecutive win at the event.

Men's doubles

Main article: 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Men's doubles

CAN Daniel Nestor / SRB Nenad Zimonjić def. SWE Jonas Björkman / ZIM Kevin Ullyett, 7–6(14–12), 6–7(3–7), 6–3, 6–3

Women's doubles

Main article: 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Women's doubles

USA Serena Williams / USA Venus Williams def. USA Lisa Raymond / AUS Samantha Stosur, 6–2, 6–2

Mixed doubles

Main article: 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Mixed doubles

USA Bob Bryan / AUS Samantha Stosur def. USA Mike Bryan / SLO Katarina Srebotnik, 7–5, 6–4

Juniors

Boys' singles

Main article: 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Boys' singles

BUL Grigor Dimitrov def. FIN Henri Kontinen, 7–5, 6–3

Girls' singles

Main article: 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Girls' singles

GBR Laura Robson def. THA Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, 6–3, 3–6, 6–1

Boys' doubles

Main article: 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Boys' doubles

TPE Hsieh Cheng-peng / TPE Yang Tsung-hua def. AUS Matt Reid / AUS Bernard Tomic, 6–4, 2–6, 12–10

Girls' doubles

Main article: 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Girls' doubles

SLO Polona Hercog / AUS Jessica Moore def. AUS Isabella Holland / AUS Sally Peers, 6–3, 1–6, 6–2

Other events

Gentlemen's invitation doubles

Main article: 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Gentlemen's invitation doubles

USA Donald Johnson / USA Jared Palmer def. NED Jacco Eltingh / NED Paul Haarhuis, walkover

Ladies' invitation doubles

Main article: 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Ladies' invitation doubles

CZE Jana Novotná / USA Kathy Rinaldi def. USA Martina Navratilova / CZE Helena Suková, 5–7, 6–3, [10–5]

Senior gentlemen's invitation doubles

Main article: 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Senior gentlemen's invitation doubles

USA Ken Flach / USA Robert Seguso def. GBR Jeremy Bates / SWE Anders Järryd, 7–6(7–1), 6–7(5–7), [10–7]

Wheelchair men's doubles

Main article: 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Wheelchair men's doubles

NED Robin Ammerlaan / NED Ronald Vink def. FRA Stéphane Houdet / FRA Nicolas Peifer, 6–7(8–10), 6–1, 6–3

Notable stories

Betting scandal

There were allegations in a dossier that several matches, including eight at Wimbledon, were under suspicion of being fixed by professional gambling syndicates after bookmakers noted unexpected spikes in betting patterns. The dossier, released on the Sunday prior to the first day of play, had been commissioned by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), Women's Tennis Association (WTA), International Tennis Federation (ITF), and four Grand Slams earlier in the year, and was compiled by bookmakers. An official said, "If you look at a tournament, you might see one match for £23,000 [in betting turnover], one for £27,000, one for £36,000 and one for £4.5m. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that something is going on in the last one." Betting on Wimbledon matches was popular in 2007, with over £420m wagered on bets.

To help deal with any potential gambling problems, the All England Club restricted access to player's changing rooms this year, allowing only the player and their coach permission. It was hoped that this would make communication between gamblers and players more difficult. Match fixing became a prominent issue in the media after the 2007 Orange Prokom Open, where the then World No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko came under suspicion of colluding with gamblers, and gambling company Betfair took the unprecedented step of voiding all bets on a match of his with Martín Vassallo Argüello.

Pigeon killing controversy

The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, the sport club that plays host to the Championships, came under fire from animal activists for using marksmen to shoot down dive-bombing pigeons. The marksmen were ordered to use hawks to scare them away, but when some failed to do so, the marksmen killed them, which led to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) group releasing a statement admonishing the practice and subsequently, referring to the Animal Welfare Act 2006, contacting the Metropolitan Police.

Several players complained about the pigeons distracting them during play, and because of the inefficient nature of the hawks, rapid action was sought on the Sunday evening before the tournament began. The marksmen were hired by the All England Club and, armed with rifles, shot several birds. When the media broke the story on Monday, a spokesman for the All England Club defended the club's approach, saying that, "The hawks are our first line of deterrent, and by and large they do the job. But unfortunately there were one or two areas where the hawks didn't deter the pigeons, so it was deemed necessary to take a harder approach." By Tuesday however, the Metropolitan Police wildlife crime unit had been alerted to the practice by PETA, after allegedly infringing the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Bruce Friedrich, vice-president of PETA, wrote in a letter to the All England Club chairman Tim Phillips, that the birds did not represent "a demonstrable risk to public health and safety", and the activity was therefore in violation of the Act. A Wimbledon spokesperson subsequently announced that they had reneged on their policy, and that the All England Club would no longer shoot pigeons.

A similar, but more inconspicuous, incident also occurred on the Sunday evening before the Championships. A swarm of bees descended upon the area surrounding the All England Club; this caused the clearing out of the players' lawn (where competitors gather after play) and a temporary cessation of some interviews. Further disruption was caused because organizers had to alter the overnight queuing system, in order to protect people. This was the first time that bees had caused disruptions at the All England Club. Some media outlets reported that the bees deserted the grounds after around 90 minutes, whilst others claimed that a similar resolution to the pigeon problem was sought, with the bees being professionally exterminated.

British performance

The British public were treated to some palpable success, as London-based Laura Robson became the first British girl to win the Girls' juniors competition since Annabel Croft in 1984. Fourteen-year-old Robson, the youngest player in the Girls' juniors, had to beat players aged up to eighteen, the maximum age allowed for entry into the juniors. She garnered considerable media attention; with a large crowd gathered to watch both her semi-final and final matches, the latter of which was on No. 1 Court, she called it an "overwhelming experience." British-based gambling company Ladbrokes slashed her odds of winning Wimbledon before 2020 from 50/1 to 20/1.

In the seniors, 2007 mixed doubles champion Jamie Murray could not replicate his triumph of the previous year with new partner Liezel Huber, after his 2007 partner Jelena Janković opted not to play in order to concentrate on the singles competition. Murray and Huber reached the semi-finals where they were knocked out by Bob Bryan and Samantha Stosur.

In the seniors singles competition, the most significant impact was made by Scottish player Andy Murray, when he became the first British player to reach the quarter-finals since Tim Henman in 2004. Murray, often castigated in the British media for his surly manner, won the crowd's affections with his five-set victory over Richard Gasquet (details of this match are given in the Day 7 summary). The Murray–Gasquet match was watched by over 10 million people in the UK, and it was watched by more than 50% of the potential viewing public in his native Scotland.

Chris Eaton from Surrey, the ATP No. 661, successfully began his campaign in qualifying, and then caused a major surprise by beating ATP No. 114 Boris Pašanski in the first round. Anne Keothavong was the first British woman to directly qualify to the main draw since 1998, however no British woman made it beyond the second round.

A tournament of upsets and surprises

The men's side of the draw was notable for the performances of Marat Safin and Rainer Schüttler, ranked 75th and 94th respectively on entering the tournament. Safin caused an upset in the second round when he defeated Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets, on the way to his first ever Wimbledon semi-final, where he lost to Roger Federer. After more than five years without reaching the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam tournament, and thirteen consecutive Grand Slam tournaments without advancing past the second round, Schüttler also reached his first Wimbledon semi-final, where he was defeated in straight sets by the eventual champion Rafael Nadal. Schüttler had earlier defeated Arnaud Clément (who had previously not advanced to the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam tournament since reaching the final of the 2001 Australian Open) in an epic quarter-final that lasted two days.

The women's side of the draw saw some of the biggest upsets in the tournament's history, in which the top four seeds—Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Janković, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova—all failed to reach the quarter-finals. Maria Sharapova suffered her earliest exit at Wimbledon when she lost to Alla Kudryavtseva in the second round; this was also her earliest exit at a Grand Slam since the 2003 US Open. Recent French Open champion and newly crowned World No. 1 Ana Ivanovic was stunned in the third round by Chinese wild card entrant and World No. 133 Zheng Jie. This was the earliest exit by a top seed at Wimbledon since Martina Hingis lost in the first round in 2001, and Zheng Jie also became the lowest-ranked player ever to defeat a top seed at the tournament. Janković and Kuznetsova were both toppled in the fourth round by Tamarine Tanasugarn and Agnieszka Radwańska, respectively. This was the first time since seedings began at Wimbledon in 1927 (and the first time in the Open Era) that none of the top four seeds managed to advance past the fourth round. Zheng Jie became the second Chinese player (after Li Na in 2006) to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, and the first wild card entry ever to reach the semi-finals (a feat later achieved by Sabine Lisicki in 2011), where she was defeated by eventual runner-up Serena Williams. Meanwhile, Tanasugarn reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final by virtue of her victory over Janković, losing to the eventual champion Venus Williams.

Singles players

;Men's singles

;Women's singles

Day by day

Main article: 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Day-by-day summaries

Singles seeds

The following are the seeded players and notable players who withdrew from the event. Seedings based on ATP and WTA rankings as of 16 June 2008. Rankings and points before are as of 23 June 2008.

[[2008 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles|Men's singles]]

The Men's singles seeds is arranged on a surface-based system to reflect more accurately the individual player's grass court achievement as per the following formula:

• ESP points as at a week before The Championships at 16 June 2008
• Add 100% points earned for all grass court tournaments in the past 12 months (18 June 2007 – 15 June 2008)
• add 75% points earned for best grass court tournament in the 12 months before that (19 June 2006 – 17 June 2007).

The following players would have been seeded, but they withdrew from the event.

[[2008 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|Women's singles]]

† The player did not qualify for the tournament in 2007. Accordingly, points for her 16th best result are deducted instead.

The following player would have been seeded, but she withdrew from the event.

Main draw wild card entries

The following players received wild cards into the main draw senior events.

Men's singles

1. GBR Jamie Baker
2. GBR Alex Bogdanovic
3. FRA Jérémy Chardy
4. BEL Xavier Malisse

Women's singles

1. GBR Elena Baltacha
2. GBR Naomi Cavaday
3. GBR Katie O'Brien
4. POL Urszula Radwańska
5. GBR Melanie South
6. ESP Carla Suárez Navarro
7. AUS Samantha Stosur
8. CHN Zheng Jie

Men's doubles

1. GBR James Auckland / GBR Jamie Delgado
2. GBR Neil Bamford / GBR Josh Goodall
3. GBR Richard Bloomfield / GBR Ken Skupski
4. GBR Alex Bogdanovic / GBR Jonathan Marray
5. GBR Chris Eaton / GBR Alexander Slabinsky

Women's doubles

1. GBR Elena Baltacha / GBR Naomi Cavaday
2. GBR Amanda Elliott / GBR Katie O'Brien
3. GBR Anne Keothavong / GBR Melanie South
4. GBR Anna Fitzpatrick / GBR Anna Hawkins
5. GBR Sarah Borwell / GBR Jocelyn Rae

Mixed doubles

1. GBR James Auckland / GBR Elena Baltacha
2. GBR Alex Bogdanovic / GBR Melanie South
3. GBR Richard Bloomfield / GBR Sarah Borwell
4. GBR Jamie Delgado / GBR Katie O'Brien
5. GBR Ross Hutchins / GBR Anne Keothavong

Main draw qualifier entries

Men's singles

Main article: 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles qualifying

Men's singles qualifiers

1. GER Andreas Beck
2. BEL Christophe Rochus
3. POR Frederico Gil
4. GER Philipp Petzschner
5. USA Kevin Kim
6. FRA Édouard Roger-Vasselin
7. RSA Izak van der Merwe
8. USA Jesse Levine
9. CZE Pavel Šnobel
10. ITA Stefano Galvani
11. AUT Alexander Peya
12. CZE Jan Hernych
13. UKR Sergiy Stakhovsky
14. GER Simon Stadler
15. GBR Chris Eaton
16. POL Dawid Olejniczak

Lucky losers

1. SRB Ilija Bozoljac
2. GER Tobias Kamke

Women's singles

Main article: 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles qualifying

Women's singles qualifiers

1. RUS Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
2. CZE Zuzana Ondrášková
3. CZE Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová
4. FRA Séverine Brémond
5. ESP María José Martínez Sánchez
6. UKR Viktoriya Kutuzova
7. ITA Maria Elena Camerin
8. FRA Stéphanie Foretz
9. SVK Magdaléna Rybáriková
10. JPN Rika Fujiwara
11. CZE Eva Hrdinová
12. FRA Mathilde Johansson

Men's doubles

Main article: 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Men's doubles Qualifying

Men's doubles qualifiers

1. USA Amer Delić / USA Brendan Evans
2. POR Frederico Gil / BEL Dick Norman
3. USA K. J. Hippensteel / USA Tripp Phillips
4. CZE Petr Pála / SVK Igor Zelenay

Lucky losers

1. SWE Johan Brunström / AUS Adam Feeney
2. RUS Mikhail Elgin / RUS Alexander Kudryavtsev
3. USA Hugo Armando / USA Jesse Levine

Women's doubles

Main article: 2008 Wimbledon Championships – Women's doubles Qualifying

Women's doubles qualifiers

1. RUS Maria Kirilenko / ITA Flavia Pennetta
2. USA Raquel Kops-Jones / USA Abigail Spears
3. ARG Jorgelina Cravero / ARG Betina Jozami
4. CZE Andrea Hlaváčková / UKR Olga Savchuk

Lucky losers

1. USA Christina Fusano / USA Angela Haynes
2. JPN Ayumi Morita / JPN Junri Namigata
3. GBR Anna Smith / GBR Georgie Stoop

Withdrawals

The following players were accepted directly into the main tournament, but withdrew with injuries, suspensions or personal reasons. ;Men's singles

• ARG José Acasuso → replaced by GER Tobias Kamke
• ARG Juan Ignacio Chela → replaced by ARG Brian Dabul
• AUT Stefan Koubek → replaced by COL Alejandro Falla
• GER Florian Mayer → replaced by SRB Boris Pašanski
• ARG Juan Mónaco → replaced by CRO Roko Karanušić
• FRA Gaël Monfils → replaced by SRB Ilija Bozoljac
• ESP Carlos Moyá → replaced by ARG Martín Vassallo Argüello
• FRA Jo-Wilfried Tsonga → replaced by USA Wayne Odesnik

;Women's singles

• GRE Eleni Daniilidou → replaced by CAN Aleksandra Wozniak
• FRA Tatiana Golovin → replaced by VEN Milagros Sequera
• ITA Karin Knapp → replaced by ROM Monica Niculescu
• JPN Akiko Morigami → replaced by CZE Renata Voráčová
• ARG María Emilia Salerni → replaced by GER Julia Görges
• USA Meghann Shaughnessy → replaced by USA Bethanie Mattek
• USA Meilen Tu → replaced by USA Vania King

References

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