Courting victory

By A.B., R.L.W. and L.P.

A comparison of men's and women's tennis grand-slam records

WIMBLEDON, the third major tennis tournament of the year, starts today with its traditional grey skies, pricey strawberries—and paucity of British winners. This year Andy Murray could break the curse to become the first British men's champion since 1936. Yet he is competing during perhaps the most impressive era of the men's game. Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal (seeded top, third and fifth) are among the game's top winners. They have amassed 35 grand-slam titles among them, including 31 of the last 33. Victories by Mr Murray and Juan Martín del Potro at the US Open have been the only interruptions.

By contrast, the women's game has been dominated by a smaller group of players. Steffi Graf has won more grand-slam tournaments than anyone else in the modern era, while Martina Navratilova has claimed most Wimbledons. The top seed this year is Serena Williams, whose 16 major victories place her far above the other title-contenders. The second seed, Victoria Azarenka, has won two majors and the third seed, Maria Sharapova, has won four. Their chances of claiming another title on Wimbledon's grass courts are severely threatened by Miss Williams, whom bookmakers favour 1 to 2. She has won three of the last four Wimbledons and is in rich form this year, with 43 wins out of 45 matches.

Clarification: A previous version of this chart did not say the data refer to singles titles. This was updated on June 25th.