The GOAT versus GBB (Great Britain’s best), No.2 vs No.3, Swiss Maestro vs Gritty British, All-time Legend vs Son of Soil, Aggressive Gladiator vs Defensive Wall, Roger Federer vs Andy Murray, what else to say. When the draw ceremony was conducted 2 weeks back, this was the one match that the thousands planning to visit SW 19 over the next fortnight were waiting for. It is the match-up between the Adopted Child of the All England Club and the Native Son of the United Kingdom.

Flashback to the summer of 2012; the summer which belonged to Federer and Murray as the consequence of the Wimbledon 2012 and the London Olympics turned out to be a major milestone in their respective careers. . Federer won his last major title at Wimbledon that year, beating Murray 4–6, 7–5, 6–3, 6–4 in the Brit’s first Wimbledon final. Federer also managed to get back to the top of the rankings and overtake Sampras for the most weeks as No.1 (302 to 286).

Federer managed to get the better of Murray at the 2012 Wimbledon Final.

Murray immediately recovered from that tearful loss, getting his retaliation in the Olympic final, beating Federer on Centre Court 6–2, 6–1, 6–4, and went on to win his first major a few months later at the U.S. Open. A year later he would make his second Wimbledon final and go on to become the first British man in 77 years to hoist the Wimbledon singles trophy.

Fast forward to the current day and the two men now find themselves in analogous positions as they were back then. Despite their endeavors, they both arrived at Wimbledon in 2015 with something to prove. For Federer, a seven-time Wimbledon champion, this tournament remains his best chance at adding to his tally of 17 major titles. For Murray, after undergoing back surgery and battling his way back to his top form, he wants to prove he can do it again, this time with Coach Amelie Mauresmo in his corner.

Murray avenged his loss at the 2012 London Olympics and clinched the Gold Medal for Great Britain

With too much on stake, who will come out on top?? It might come down to who deals with the pressure and situation better!!

STATS-METER – Tenacious Brit vs Swiss Artiste

1. On Grass – Overall

Roger is 141-19 (88%) on grass overall. He has the best match win rate on grass in the Open-Era. He is also 2nd in the list of most matches won on grass behind Jimmy Connors (170). Similarly he leads the list for most titles won on grass – 15 (8 Halle & 7 Wimbledon; 15-5 in Grass Finals).

Andy is 88-16 (84.6%) on grass overall (4th best match win rate on grass in the Open-Era behind Federer, McEnroe, Borg). He’s won 6 titles on the greens (tied 8th in the Open-Era for most titles on grass; 4 Queen’s Club, 1 Wimbledon, 1 London Olympics; 6-1 in Grass Finals).

2. Wimbledon Track-record

Roger is 78-9 (89.6%) at Wimbledon; he is 2nd behind Connors (84) in the all-time match wins leader at Wimbledon. Also he is 3rd in the win-loss % at the All England Club behind Borg (92.7%) & Sampras (90%). He has won 7 titles at Wimbledon (tied with Pete Sampras for most championships). He is a 9-time Wimbledon finalist (7-2; most Wimbledon finals in the Open-Era). Federer is 9-0 in Wimbledon SF (won 27 of the 28 sets he’s played). He will play in his 10th SF (behind Jimmy Connors who has played the most SF at Wimbledon with 11 appearances).

Andy Murray is 46-8 (85.2%) at Wimbledon (8th in the all-time list for win-loss %). He won his only championship in 2013 and is 1-1 in finals. Also he’s reached the SF 5 times (2-3 record). He will play his 6th SF on Friday.

3. 2015 – ATP Season

World No.2 Federer is 39-6 in 2015 (4 titles – Brisbane, Dubai, Istanbul and Halle). He won his 1000th Professional match at the Brisbane Final. His victory in Halle saw him become the 3rd man to win titles at the same event (Rafael Nadal has nine Roland Garros titles and eight from Monte Carlo and Barcelona, while Guillermo Vilas has eight from Buenos Aires). He is 6-3 vs Top 10 opponents this season. Federer is 4-2 in Finals (both losses to Djokovic) & 6-0 in SF matches this season.

World No.3 Andy is 46-6 in 2015 (3 titles – Munich, Madrid and Queen’s Club). He reached his 4th AO Final losing to Novak Djokovic in the final. He won his 1st clay court title in Munich and followed that up with his 1st Clay-Court Masters title in Madrid beating Rafa Nadal in the final thus picking up his 1st victory against any of his fellow Big Four rivals since defeating Djokovic to win Wimbledon in 2013. He also won a record 4th Queen’s Club title. He is 6-4 vs Top 10 opponents this season (all 4 losses to World No.1 Djokovic). Andy is 3-2 in Finals & 5-2 in SF matches this season (again all losses to Djokovic).

Both men are the most in-form grass court players of the season. Both are on a 10-match win streak on grass after Federer won Halle and Murray won Queen’s.

4. The Head-to-Head

Federer leads the overall head-to-head 12-11 and has won the last 3 matches against the Scot (including the 6-0, 6-1 mauling at the O2 last year). The Surface break-up – Federer leads 11-10 on Hard and the match-up is tied 1-1 on grass. Also Federer leads 5-3 in Finals but trails 2-5 in SF matches. They are tied 1-1 at the All England Club.

In majors, Federer leads 4-1 (2-1 AO, 1-0 USO, 1-0 Wimby) but Andy won their only SF match at the 2013 AO Open (5 setter). Roger also leads 3-0 in slam finals. Federer is 5-1 in London (4 wins at World Tour Finals, 1 at Wimbledon only loss 2012 Olympics Final).

Before April of 2009, Murray dominated his rivalry with Federer, beating him all over the world, in Doha, Indian Wells, Shanghai, Madrid, Dubai and Cincinnati leading 6-2. But Fed won their Grand Slam final during that stretch and would turn it around starting in the summer of 2009, winning 10 of the last 15 matches.

The one stat to be noted is Murray is on an 11-match losing streak to players ranked in the top 2 (last win 2013 Wimbledon Final over Novak Djokovic). He is only 1-13 against the Big 3 since the start of 2014 (only win against an ailing Rafa – 2015 Madrid Final).

Marriage does work – Murray is 25-1 since marrying his long-time partner Kim Sears (since April 2015).

Roger – Serve Machine: In his 5 matches at SW 19 this year, Roger Federer is 72/1 (Service games win-loss) broken only once (broken by Simon QF). Thus far, he has faced only 3 break points and has won 85% 1st Serve Points and 67% 2nd Serve Points.

GAME ON..QUIET PLEASE PLAYERS ARE READY!!