The Sports Matrix: Thursday 30 June 2011

Nick Bollettieri's A-Z of SW19

S is for Serena. She may have gone home this year but her presence will always be felt at Wimbledon. She’s won four singles, four doubles and a mixed doubles here. Not bad eh?

T is for what every player here wants: the trophy. The two big ones are the Gentlemen’s Singles Trophy, which has been handed out since 1887, and for the women, the unmistakeable Rosewater Dish. It’s part of the tradition. MORE

England have rare Christmas at home

England’s cricketers’ winter schedule will allow them to be home for Christmas, as part of a two-month break leading into the New Year. They face India, then play Pakistan in the UAE before travelling to Sri Lanka. MORE

Nadal win sets up Murray semi-final

Rafael Nadal showed few signs of injury he suffered earlier in the tournament as he swept through his quarter-final with Mardy Fish to set up a last four showdown with Andy Murray. The Spaniard recovered from losing the third set to win 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. MORE

Benkenstein leads Durham to victory

Durham increased their lead at the top of the County Championship to 23 points yesterday, beating rivals Lancashire by five wickets at Liverpool. Chasing 181, an unbeaten 60 from Dale Benkenstein and 45 from Paul Collingwood saw them home. MORE

Djokovic recovers to make last four

Second seed Novak Djokovic extended his fine 2011 record to make the semi-finals of his fifth Grand Slam in succession. The Serb overcame a spirited display from Australian Bernard Tomic to progress in four sets, winning 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. MORE

City closing in on Arsenal’s Clichy

Manchester City are moving towards a £7m deal for Arsenal left-back Gaël Clichy. Negotiations are yet to be concluded but Clichy could well become the first player to head to Eastlands this summer, potentially displacing Serbian fullback Aleksandar Kolarov. MORE

Azarenka hopes to live up to promise

Victoria Azarenka, the highest ranked player in today’s semi-finals, faces the Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova hoping to reach her first ever Grand Slam final. The other semi-final is between 2004 champion Maria Sharapova and Sabine Lisicki. MORE

Villas-Boas knows expectations

Andre Villas-Boas took his first press conference as Chelsea manager yesterday, admitting he was under no illusions as to the demands of the job. “Who expects to stay as Chelsea manager if they don’t win anything?” the Portuguese, 33, said. MORE

Opinion: James Lawton

Roger Federer’s quarter-final defeat to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga yesterday, having been two sets ahead, was the kind of defeat that makes the greatest of champions wonder quite how much time is left. MORE

Murray roars into semis but Federer stunned by Tsonga

Andy Murray moved smoothly through to his third successive SW19 semi-final yesterday with a comfortable straight-sets defeat of Feliciano Lopez. Six-time champion Roger Federer, though, was stunned by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat him despite having been two sets down. Murray’s victory, setting up a semi-final against Rafael Nadal, took just over two hours, as he won 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, his returns making a mockery of the Spaniard’s big serve. “I thought it was good,” said Murray afterwards. “I think Feliciano was a little bit tired. He had a long match in the last round so he struggled a bit with his movement but I thought I served well for most of the match.” More dramatic had been the earlier quarter-final between Federer and Tsonga. The world No 3 won the first two sets but a powerful comeback from the Frenchman overwhelmed him, and Tsonga triumphed 3-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. It was the first time in Federer’s career that he has lost a match in a Grand Slam tournament having won the first two sets. “At least it took a special performance from him to beat me,” said a phlegmatic Federer afterwards. “He hung in there. I was controlling the match. Next thing you know, he just continued serving great.” Tsonga will play Novak Djokovic in the other semi-final tomorrow. MORE

Broady beats top seed in boys’ event

Liam Broady remains on course to provide the first home winner of the Boys’ Singles for nearly 50 years. Yesterday he beat top seed Jiri Vesely 6-4, 7-5, to set up a quarter-final with Germany’s RobinKern. “It felt great,” he said. “I love playing here.” MORE

Chelsea to bring in code of conduct

The new regime at Chelsea, now made up of Andre Villas-Boas and assistant Roberto di Matteo, will bring in a new code of conduct for players. Villas-Boas said yesterday that he wants his players to “triumph as persons”, and “as social role models”. MORE