2012 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles 2012 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles Novak Djokovic was the defending champion, but lost in the semifinals to Roger Federer. Federer defeated Andy Murray in the final, 4–6, 7–5, 6–3, 6–4, to win the Gentlemen's Singles tennis title at the 2012 Wimbledon Championships. It was his seventh Wimbledon title and seventeenth Grand Slam title. With the win, Federer also regained the world No. 1 ranking. Federer thus equalled both William Renshaw and Pete Sampras' record of seven Wimbledon titles, as well as Sampras' record of 286 weeks as world No. 1; Federer broke the latter record on 16 July 2012.
2003 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles 2003 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles Lleyton Hewitt was the defending champion, but he lost in the first round to Ivo Karlović. As a result of this loss, Hewitt became one of only two defending Wimbledon men's singles champions to lose in the first round of their defence, the other being Manuel Santana, the 1966 champion, who lost in the first round in 1967 to Charlie Pasarell. Roger Federer defeated Mark Philippoussis in the final, 7–6, 6–2, 7–6 to win the Gentlemen's Singles tennis title at the 2003 Wimbledon Championships. It was Federer's first Grand Slam tournament win, and the