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Alongside the usual excitement that follows Wimbledon, the biggest tennis tournament in the world, this year's edition will be remembered as the ultimate battleground for the number 1 spot in the ATP rankings.

Namely, Andy Murray came as a defended champion and the leading player on the list, but there were no less than 3 competitors that could end his reign with a good result at the All England Club. Rafael Nadal, who didn't climb to the top of the rankings for 3 years, had the opportunity to dethrone Andy by reaching the final and beating the Briton in the eventual semi-final clash that could have been a direct clash for the number 1.

Stan Wawrinka, who never entered the Top 2, also had a shot, but only if he won the title, and Novak Djokovic could do the same by lifting the trophy, but only with Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal in the last 4. As we all know, all 4 players had to end their campaign earlier than they were hoping, which means that Andy Murray will remain the world number 1, with just 7750 points on his tally, the lowest number since introducing of this kind of rankings in 2009! Unlike in the previous years, this means that no player managed to dominate in the past 12 months (Andy may have had a great second part of 2016 but he failed to reach the final in any of the last 4 Grand Slams), and if he wins the title here, Roger Federer will become another legitimate contender for the ATP throne in the months to come, with no points to defend until the end of the season (he will be some 1200 points behind Murray).

If we go back through Wimbledon draws, searching for the last season where neither of the Top 4 seeds reached the semi-final will take us back to 2003, and this was also the first season since 2005 without Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic in the semi-final of the 3rd Grand Slam of the season! The domination of the Big 4 at the biggest tennis tournament started in 2003 and it hasn't been cracked ever since, and Roger Federer has a chance to extend it for one more season if he wins the remaining two matches.

In fact, this will be the first Wimbledon semis without two players from the Big 4 since 2005, as they were too dominant for all the other rivals in the field. The table below reveals some interesting facts about the rankings of the players who advanced to the last at Wimbledon since 2000:


↓ SHOW RANK ↓



* Between 2004-16, world number 1 or world number 2 made the Wimbledon semis every season (they did it 8 times together)

* In the last 18 years, we had only 2 Wimbledon without the players from the Top 4 in the semi-final, and in both 2003 and 2017 it was the Roger Federer who was the highest-ranked remaining player, ranked 5th

* Since 2000, there were just 2 seasons with Top 10 players in the semi-final, in 2006 and 2012

* 2015 was the only season in that period with Top 3 players advancing to the last 4 (Djokovic, Federer, and Murray)

* Sam Querrey (28) is the lowest-ranked player in Wimbledon semi-final after Tommy Haas in 2009 (34)

* At least 2 Top 10 players won 5 matches in every year since 2000, and the second highest-ranked player was Patrick Rafter in 2001, who was 10th

* The lowest-ranked players in the Wimbledon semi-final since 2000 were Vladimir Voltchkov in 2000 (237), Goran Ivanisevic in 2001 (125), and Rainer Schuettler in 2008 (94)

* 2008 saw a huge disproportion in the rank of the last 4 remaining players. There were Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, world's leading players, followed by Marat Safin, ranked 75th, and Rainer Schuettler who was 94th