Social Media buzz going into Wimbledon 2019

It’s that time again, tennis fans! Wimbledon 2019 is upon us. As the most prestigious of the four “Grand Slam” tournaments, Wimbledon garners a lot of attention each year. From John McEnroe’s famous “You cannot be serious!” outburst in 1981 to Andy Murray outlasting the field in 2013 to become the first British champion at Wimbledon in 77 years, it seems like each year brings about an interesting storyline. Here at Cogent Infotech, we’ve turned our digital “ears” - our advanced social listening algorithms and artificial intelligence - toward Wimbledon 2019 to see what people online are talking about.

SOCIAL INTERACTION TIMELINE

Looking at the graph below, you will see six major spikes in conversations. Not coincidentally, these increases line up with news about the tournament.

Mentions: 247,105

Posts : 222,581 

Potential Impressions : 8,496,964,157 

Net Sentiment : 49% 

WIMBLEDON, JUNE 2019 KEY CONVERSATIONS

• Injured fan favorite Andy Murray announced that he may compete in the double’s competition.
• Fran Jones, 18, of Great Britain earned a spot in the tournament. This promising young player was born with the genetic disorder Ectrodactyl Ectodermal Dysplasia (EEC) and has only eight fingers and seven toes.
• Rafael Nadal respectfully voiced his disapproval of Wimbledon’s unique seeding formula, which resulted in elevating Roger Federer to the no. 2 seed, considering his history on the grass-court

MOST SPOKEN ABOUT RIVALRIES

Since 2002, there have only been four men’s players who have won Wimbledon: Novak Djokovic (Serbia), Rafael Nadal (Spain), Roger Federer (Switzerland) and Andy Murray (Scotland). With Andy Murray sitting out this year’s singles competition, that leaves the other three to battle it out in rivalry matches. According to our research, the most anticipated of these matches are:

RAFAEL NADAL vs ROGER FEDERER 

This is one of the greatest rivalries in tennis history, so it’s no surprise it’s on top of the list. Nadal and Federer have only faced each other three times in Wimbledon, with Federer maintaining a 2-1 win advantage.

ROGER FEDERER vs NOVAK DJOKOVIC

Again, these two elite competitors have faced off at Wimbledon three times, with Djokovic winning two out of the three matches.

RAFAEL NADAL vs NOVAK DJOKOVIC 

Although the two have faced each other over 50 times in their careers, they have met only three times at Wimbledon. Nadal looks to even up the record this year, as Djokovic enjoys a 2-1 match lead.

Outside the top 3 most anticipated rivalries, we also noticed mentions on Rafael Nadal and Nick Kyrgios. A potential second round encounter between these two rivals is anticipated as Nick beat Nadal in the Mexican open this February. People are wanting Nick Kyrgios to lose and get a reality check for his un-sportsmanship attitude on the court.

MOST-MENTIONED MEN’S SINGLES PLAYERS’

Our social data shows who the most popular players are leading up to the tournament.

RAFAEL NADAL (8,630 Mentions) - Coming off a big win at the French Open, Nadal is looking to capture the third Wimbledon title of his illustrious career.

ANDY MURRAY (8,379 Mentions) - Not competing in the singles competition due to a hip injury .Still dominated mentions by leaving the door open for competing in doubles matches and the only British champ since 1936

NOVAK DJOKOVIC (5,361 Mentions) - Defending Wimbledon champion falls well below the top three in mentions but his game is not to be underestimated

ROGER FEDERER (5,357 Mentions) - Still going strong at the age of 37, an unheard accomplishment in Tennis

MOST-MENTIONED WOMEN’S SINGLES PLAYERS’

SERENA WILLIAMS (4,009 Mentions) - A household name with mass appeal.While still recovering from an injury and getting back into playing shape after having a baby, Williams is still the player to beat this year.

PETRA KVITOVA (2,734 Mentions) - Czech player who has already won Wimbledon twice before. Unfortunately, it is unknown whether she can compete, due to an arm injury.

ANGELIQUE KERBER (2,089 Mentions) - German, current Women’s Wimbledon Champion, with 3 Grand Slam titles under her belt is recovering from her ankle injury, after missing out on the clay tournaments, she isn’t expecting much from this year’s Wimbledon

ASHLEIGH BARTY (1,750 Mentions) - Australian, ranked no 2, won her maiden Grand Slam title at the French Open last month. If she becomes no 1 after winning Wimbledon, she will be the first Australian woman to do so in 45 years

BUZZ AROUND WEATHER CONDITIONS

The weather is always a hot topic on social media, and it may shape Wimbledon this year. Great Britain is currently in the middle of a heat wave that is expected to continue throughout the summer. This should actually help players, especially the women’s competitors, as a new rule gives them more opportunity for water breaks when the temperatures climb to above 30 degrees Celsius.

TOP SPONSORS MENTIONED

As the premier tennis tournament, Wimbledon attracts a great number of sponsors. Here are a few that have garnered the most mentions online.

Fever-Tree - This company has sponsored the prestigious Pre-Wimbledon grass tournament held at The Queen’s Club, London. 

Oppo - An electronics company based in China with a recent history of partnerships with sporting events such as the World Cup and Wimbledon.

Harrowells - This well-known law firm in the United Kingdom is sponsoring tennis education events associated with Wimbledon before the event.

IBM - The tech giant has sponsored the tournament for over 30 years.

PREDICTION FOR WIMBLEDON

Of course, people on the internet love attempting to predict the outcome of this major tournament. We’ve found the most people predicting the following.

MEN’S SINGLE WINNERS: It should come to no surprise to anyone reading this article that the most predicted winners of the singles competition are Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

WOMEN’S SINGLE WINNERS: The current popular opinions center on either Serena Williams or Naomi Osaka taking home the Venus Rosewater Dish.

HOW SOCIAL LISTENING CAN SERVE UP SUCCESS

Here at Cogent Infotech, we specialize in researching what consumers are thinking about your brand. If you would like to have in-depth customer knowledge that can be used to tailor the launch of your next event or product, contact us today to schedule a consultation. We help make the big picture clearer for your brand, and offer actionable plans to harness this information for future success.

Stay tuned for our next insight and connect with us on social@cogentinfo.com