- Ladies’ Championship Saturday: 2011 Winner Petra Kvitova Faces the Emerging Genie Bouchard of Canada
- Gentlemen’s Championship Sunday: Legends Collide – Djokovic – Federer XXXV
- Breakfast at Wimbledon with Hannah Storm Starts Your Mornings at 8 a.m. ET on ESPN
- Both Championships Reaired Later That Day on ABC at 3 p.m. ET/PT
- Championship Matches on ESPN3 include Juniors, plus Mixed, Ladies’ and an All-North American Gentlemen’s Doubles including the Bryan Brothers
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Championship Weekend will bring more Wimbledon glory to the Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s winners – unless a promising upstart from Canada, Genie Bouchard, can fulfill the promise many see in her – as on ESPN three former champions will take to Centre Court hoping to relive the most special moment in their sport. Petra Kvitova, winner in 2011, will face Bouchard Saturday, July 5 at 9 a.m. ET, while Sunday’s Gentlemen’s Championship at 9 a.m. will be the 35th meeting between 2011 victor Novak Djokovic, the top seed this year, against Roger Federer, seeking his 18th Major championship and a Wimbledon-record number eight.
The action both days will be preceded on ESPN by Breakfast at Wimbledon with Hannah Storm at 8 a.m. with interviews, features, discussion and previews.
Ladies’ Championship – Saturday, July 5, 9 a.m. ET
- 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova – the No. 6 seed and a 24-year-old lefty from the Czech Republic – is in her second Major final. At 6’ tall, her big serve can be especially difficult to handle in the ad court.
- No. 13 seed Genie Bouchard from Montreal, Canada, at age 20 is the youngest player in the WTA Top 20 and the first Canadian – male or female – to appear in a Major final. With a quiet confidence belying her age, the 5’ 10” righthander has reached the semifinals of all three Majors this year and won her first WTA title (on the clay of Nurnberg, Germany, in May) as she has emerged to be a real threat to the top players in the sport. Just a year ago, she was ranked No. 66 in the world and she is only two years removed from winning the Wimbledon Juniors title. In two appearances in the main draw on the grass courts of Wimbledon, she is 8-1.
- This will be the fifth straight Major with a different women’s champion (Wimbledon – Marion Bartoli, US Open – Serena Williams, Australian Open – Li Na, French Open – Maria Sharapova).
- With this year’s final – and Kvitova’s second appearance in four years – seven different women have appeared in the Ladies’ Championship in the last four years (Serena Williams defeated Vera Zvonareva, Petra Kvitova defeated Maria Sharapova, Marion Bartoli defeated Sabine Lisicki).
- This is the first Major final with two women born in the 1990s. Kvitova is the only woman born in the ‘90s to win a Major.
Gentlemen’s Championship – Sunday, July 6, 9 a.m.
- Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer have played 34 times, with Federer leading 18-16, plus 6-5 at the Majors, and 1-0 on grass (2012 Wimbledon semifinal).
- No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic, 6’ 2” and from Serbia, will be playing in his 14th Major final (6 wins) and third at Wimbledon (also the third in four years; he won in 2011 and lost to Andy Murray a year ago).
- No. 4 seed Roger Federer will be playing in his 25th Major final (17-7). The 6’ 1” Swiss won the first seven, starting with Wimbledon in 2003.
- With this matchup, the “Big Four” of men’s tennis – Roger Federer (17 career major wins), Rafael Nadal (14), Novak Djokovic (6) and Andy Murray (2) – extend their combined reign in Britain to 12 years, with seven, two, one and one crown on the grass, respectively, covering the past 11 years.
- After Sunday, the fantastic foursome will have won 36 of the last 38 Majors and comprise 30 of the last 32 Major finalists and 58 of the last 68.
- It is also a matchup of former Wimbledon rivals and champions-turned coaches: Boris Becker (three Wimbledons among his six Major titles) with Djokovic, and two-time Wimbledon champion Stefan Edberg, who also won six Majors. The duo met for the trophy in London three consecutive years, with Edberg taking two (1988-90).
ESPN3 starts the day at 6:30 a.m. with the action from other courts around the grounds of the All England Club, including Juniors, Wheelchair and Invitational play, the Ladies’ and the Gentlemen’s Doubles Championships on Saturday and the Mixed Doubles Championships on Sunday. For the Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s Championships, ESPN3 will also offer a version with three boxes on the screen — the match in the middle with boxes in the lower corners focused fulltime on the individual players:
- Ladies’ Doubles Championship: No. 14 Timea Babos / Kristina Mladenovic will play No. 2 Sara Errani / Roberta Vinci, who are seeking their fifth Major title together, which would also complete their career Grand Slam.
- Gentlemen’s Doubles Championship: Top-seeded twin brothers from California Bob and Mike Bryan face unseeded Vasek Pospisil of Canada and Jack Sock – a native of Lincoln, Nebraska – in an all-North American final. The Bryans have amassed a remarkable 98 doubles titles together, including 15 Majors men’s doubles titles and three in London. Pospisil and Sock are playing in their first tournament together.
In addition, in a promising sign for U.S. tennis, three of the four boys in the Junior semifinals on Saturday are Americans: Noah Rubin of New York will play Taylor Harry Fritz of California in one semi; the other sees Stefan Kozlov of Florida squaring off against Chung ye-On on South Korea.
| Date | Time (ET) | Event | Network | |
| Sat, July 5 | 6:30 a.m. | All TV Courts in Action, including:–Court One – Mixed Doubles Semifinals (8 a.m.)–Centre Court – Ladies Championship (9 a.m.), Ladies Doubles Championship, Gentlemen’s Doubles ChampionshipBoys and Girls Juniors Semifinals Plus “Live@Wimbledon” | ESPN3 | Live |
| 8 a.m. – 9 a.m. | Breakfast at Wimbledon | ESPN | Live | |
| 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. | Ladies’ FinalNo. 6 Petra Kvitova vs. No. 13 Genie Bouchard | ESPN | Live | |
| 3 – 6 p.m. | Ladies’ Final | ABC | Tape | |
| Sun, July 6 | 6:30 a.m. | All TV Courts in Action, including:–Centre Court – Gentlemen’s Championship (9 a.m.), Mixed Doubles ChampionshipPlus “Live@Wimbledon” | ESPN3 | Live |
| 8 a.m. – 9 a.m. | Breakfast at Wimbledon | ESPN | Live | |
| 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. | Gentlemen’s FinalNo. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 4 Roger Federer | ESPN | Live | |
| 3 – 6 p.m. | Gentlemen’s Final | ABC | Tape |
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