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FOOTBALL – Real Madrid start their quest for La Undecima after winning their 10th CC/CL after a 4-1 win vs Atletico Madrid. Here are the facts & figures!
FOOTBALL: At Infostrada Sports, we are always experimenting with new insights from sports data and we have therefore developed a Balance of Play visualisation which shows how the balance between two football teams ebbs and flows during a football match. Tonight’s Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid is visualised below.
FOOTBALL – Here you can see all 24 facts of our 24 hour countdown to the CL Final on our @infostradaLive twitter feed. Follow us and enjoy many more facts before, during and after tonight’s CL Final. Enjoy!
FOOTBALL – Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid will face each other in the Champions League final on Saturday 24 May. It is the fifth time that two teams from the same country meet in the final of the CC/CL. Click HERE to see our full infographic on this Clash of Compatriots.
TENNIS: The following is a preview to the 2013 Davis Cup final, which will be contested between Serbia and Czech Republic from 15 to 17 November.
General
> These sides have met 11 times before and three times in the World Group era (1981-present). In the semifinals in 2010, Serbia won 3-2 on Belgrade’s hardcourt. This was also the two teams’ only previous meeting in Belgrade. In last year’s quarterfinals, the Czechs triumphed 4-1 on clay in Prague’s O2 Arena. In 1991, Yugoslavia beat Czechoslovakia 4-1 in the quarterfinals in Prague. The Czechs lead their all-time series 6-5.
> In 17 of the last 21 Davis Cup finals, the team that won the opening rubber of the final also won the cup. However, three of the last five Davis Cup finals have been won by the side that lost the opening match.
> Each of the last four Davis Cup finals have been won by the home side. Twenty of the 32 finals in the World Group era have been won by the home team.
> In 25 of the previous 32 finals in the World Group era, the fifth rubber was contested. In seven others, it was not played as the previous four matches had already forced a decision.
> Eight of those 25 fifth rubbers were actually ‘live’, meaning that the trophy was at stake. This includes last year’s fifth match in which the Czech Republic’s Radek Stepánek defeated Spain’s Nicolás Almagro in four sets.
Serbia
> Serbia are hoping to win the Davis Cup for the second time after conquering the trophy in 2010. In that year, they saw off France 3-2 in the final at the Belgrade Arena. That is Serbia’s only previous Davis Cup final to date.
> In 2010, Serbia had vanquished the Czech Republic 3-2 in the semifinals in Belgrade.
> If Serbia win the trophy, they will become the 10th country to win the Davis Cup on more than one occasion.
> As defending champions, Serbia were eliminated in the 2011 semifinals by Argentina. That is their only defeat in the Davis Cup at the current venue, the Belgrade Arena.
> Novak Djokovic has won his last 22 singles matches on the ATP Tour, after losing the final of the US Open to Rafael Nadal in September.
> Djokovic has a 72-9 won-lost record in 2013 , including a 51-5 score on hardcourts. One of his nine defeats in 2013 has come facing Czech opposition, against Tomás Berdých in Rome last May. That match was played on clay.
> Djokovic responded by beating Berdých in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, raising his career track record to 14-2 against him.
> Djokovic’s singles performance against the other Czech team members: Radek Stepánek 8-1, Lukás Rosol 2-0, Jan Hájek 1-0.
> Djokovic is 24-7 career-wise in Davis Cup singles matches. This includes a win over Latvia’s Janis Skroderis in Belgrade in April 2004, his first career senior singles match. He has won 10 out of his last 11 singles matches in the Davis Cup, the exception being his semifinal encounter with Argentina’s Juan Martín Del Potro in 2011, from which he was forced to retire three games into the second set.
> With Janko Tipsarevic out injured and Viktor Troicki suspended, Dusan Lajovic, the world number 117, has been called upon to play singles matches, of which he has contested only one of in the Davis Cup, his dead rubber win over Sweden’s Filip Prpic in last year’s Last 16 round.
> Serbia reached the 2013 Davis Cup final by beating Belgium 3-2 away in the Last 16, United States 3-1 away in the quarterfinals and Canada 3-2 at home in the semis.
Czech Republic
> Czech Republic are hoping to retain the Davis Cup they won last year, the second time they won this trophy, following their triumph in 1980. That initial victory took place in the last year of Davis Cup competition before the World Group era (1981-present) began.
> Czech Republic can become the fifth country in the World Group era to win the Davis Cup in back-to-back years. They would join the United States (1981, 1982), Sweden (1984, 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1997, 1998), Germany (1988, 1989) and Spain (2008, 2009).
> In Davis Cup history tracking back to the start of the competition in 1900, Czech Republic can become the eighth country to have won the Davis Cup on at least three occasions. They are seeking to join United States (32), Australia (28), Great Britain (9), France (9), Sweden (7), Spain (5) and Germany (3).
> Czech Republic reached the 2013 Davis Cup final by beating Switzerland 3-2 away in the Last 16, Kazakhstan 3-1 away in the quarterfinals and Argentina 3-2 at home in the semis.
> Kazakhstan is the last team t beat Czech Republic in the Davis Cup, doing so in the Last 16 in 2011.
FOOTBALL – The following is a recap of the 2012/2013 Champions League final.
General
> Bayern München have won their fifth CL/CC in club history.
> Bayern München have won their third piece of silverware of the season, having already secured the German Super Cup and the domestic league Bundesliga title. No German club has ever collected a single season treble consisting of domestic league, domestic cup and a European trophy. Bayern can become the first if they win the German Cup Final against VfB Stuttgart on June 1.
> Bayern are the only club to have amassed any combination of three trophies in a single season. They won the domestic league, domestic cup and league cup in 1999/2000, 2004/2005 and 2007/2008 and they won the domestic league, league cup and Champions League in 2000/2001.
> Jupp Heynckes is the fourth coach to win the Champions Cup/Champions League with different teams, having led Real Madrid to the trophy in 1997/1998 and Bayern München in 2012/2013. Heynckes is the first coach to manage the feat with a foreign side first, then with a domestic side. Ernst Happel achieved it with two foreign sides (Feyenoord and Hamburger SV), Ottmar Hitzfeld did it with two domestic sides (Borussia Dortmund and Bayern München) and José Mourinho first did it with a domestic side (FC Porto), then with a foreign side (Internazionale).
Borussia Dortmund – Bayern München 1-2
> Dortmund are now winless in their last five official matches against Bayern. Their last victory against the Bavarians came in the German Cup final on 12 May 2012. Dortmund won 5-2.
> No player from either of these two squads had ever won the Champions Cup/Champions League before. In fact, only one player on both squads combined had ever won European trophies of any kind. Bayern’s Anatoli Timoshchuk picked up silverware when still at Zenit St. Petersburg, winning the 2007/2008 UEFA Cup and then the 2008 European Super Cup
> Of 58 previous CC/CL final matches, 21 were goalless at the half.
> Mario Mandzukic became the second Croatian to score in a European final of any kind. Zvonimir Boban netted for AC Milan in the European Super Cup Final in 1995.
> Ilkay Gündogan’s equalizer from the spot is only his first ever CL goal and his fourth official goal this season. It was Gündogan’s first penalty in regulation. He had also stepped up in shootouts in the DFB Super Cup (23 July 2011) and the DFB Pokal (20 Dec 2011). he has converted all three.
> Basile Boli, Predrag Mijatovic, Steve McManaman, Carlos Alberto, Sol Campbell, Belletti, Dirk Kuyt and Ilkay Gündogan all scored their first CL goal in a final.
> Arjen Robben joined Patrick Kluivert (1995) and Dirk Kuyt (2007) as Dutch goalscorers in a CL final match.
> Six players had played in Bayern’s 2010 and 2012 finals, which they eventually lost. Five of them, Lahm, Müller, Robben,
TENNIS – The 100th Davis Cup final will be contested between Czech Republic and Spain at Prague’s O2 Arena from Friday, 16 November and Sunday, 18 November. Click Read More for key facts and figures on this tie.
Davis Cup history
This will be the 100th final in the history of the Davis Cup, which is currently in its 101st season. The 1974 final was scratched and the cup was won via walkover.
The Venue
For the second time, Prague’s O2 Arena will serve as a Davis Cup venue. It also saw Czech Republic defeat Serbia in this year’s quarterfinals. Before that, the majority of Czech Republic’s Davis Cup home ties took place in Ostrava.
Head-to-head
Since the introduction of the World Group era (1981), Spain and Czech Republic have met on two previous occasions. In the Last 16 round in 2004, Spain won 3-2 away in Brno. In the 2009 final, Spain won one of three whitewash finales in the World Group era, crushing the Czechs 5-0 in Barcelona.
Czech Republic v Spain will be the ninth repeat final in the World Group era. Spain have also met Australia and Argentina twice in the final.
Czech Republic
Czech Republic won the last Davis Cup before the instalment of the World Group era. In 1980, then operating as Czechoslovakia, it relied on two players only, Ivan Lendl and Tomas Smid, to beat Italy in the final.
The Czechs have finished runners-up twice, losing 3-2 against Sweden in 1975 and 5-0 against Spain in 2009.
The Czechs have won four successive Davis Cup ties after suffering a shock defeat at the hands of Kazakhstan in the Last 16 round last season.
They bounced back to beat Romania 3-2 in promotion/relegation to maintain their World Group berth. They defeated Italy (4-1), Serbia (4-1) and Argentina (3-2) to reach the final.
Tomás Berdých has won his last six singles matches in the Davis Cup and is 5-0 in them this season.
Berdých is 15-1 in Davis Cup doubles matches, most of the time partnering Radek Stepanek, who is 13-2 in them. Berdých’s only Davis Cup doubles defeat came in the 2009 final against Spain, when the twosome lost to the pairing of Feliciano López and Fernando Verdasco.
Spain
Spain are 5-3 in Davis Cup finals and 5-1 since the World Group was introduced.
Spain have won the Davis Cup in three of the last four seasons.
Spain have won their last seven Davis Cup ties, since suffering a whitewash defeat against France in the 2010 quarterfinals.
This is Spain’s sixth successive away tie that takes place on a hardcourt and is played indoors. They have won four of the previous five, the exception being the 5-0 defeat against France.
Spain are without the injured Rafael Nadal, who has a 22-5 lifetime record in the Davis Cup. He is 20-1 in singles and 2-4 in doubles.
Nicolás Almagro is 5-0 in singles in the Davis Cup this season and David Ferrer is 4-0. Their doubles combination of Marcel Granollers and Marc López is 1-2.
Ferrer has won each of his last seven singles matches in the Davis Cup, since losing to Gaël Monfils in the 2010 quarterfinals. Ferrer’s lifetime Davis Cup record is 21-4, all accumulated in singles.
TENNIS – Andy Murray defeated Tomás Berdych to reach his fifth career Grand Slam final and giving himself the opportunity to break his duck. The Scotsman has played in four previous Major finals and has lost them all. The only other player to lose his first four is Murray’s current coach: Ivan Lendl. No player has lost his first five.
Most Grand Slam finals lost before winning 1st men’s singles GS title (Open era)
4 – Andy Murray (Yet to win)
4 – Ivan Lendl (First win: Roland Garros 1984)
3 – Andre Agassi (First win: Wimbledon 1992)
3 – Goran Ivanisevic (First win: Wimbledon 2001)
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