The odds of a Djokovic triumph

Serbia's Novak Djokovic kisses the Musketeers' Trophy after winning the Roland-Garros French Open tennis tournament, in Paris, on June 12. AFP

In reference to the report Djokovic beats Rublev at Wimbledon to equal Federer's semi-final grand slam record (July 11) Prior to Wimbledon 2023 Novak has played 70 GS tournaments since 2005. He has won 23 GS titles, has 11 runner-up finishes, was a losing semifinalist 11 times, a losing quarterfinalist 9 times and eliminated 16 times before the quarterfinals.

46 semi-final appearances, 23 GS titles won. This means that the moment Novak reaches a GS semi-final he has a 50 per cent probability of going all the way to bag the title.

It gets better when he reaches the final because he has a 23/34 or a 68 per cent probability of winning the title. So the best time to ambush Novak and prevent him from winning is during the semi-finals, where he has an equal probability of winning or losing because once he reaches the championship round the odds are incredibly stacked in his favour.

Now if we drill down specifically to Wimbledon from 2005 to 2022 he has participated 17 times winning 7, losing in the final once, losing in the semi-finals three times, losing in the quarter-final two times and losing before the quarter-final 4 times. This means that the moment Djokovic reaches the semi-finals he has a 7/11 or a 64 per cent chance of winning the title. He is practically unbeatable once he reaches the final. where his odds of lifting the trophy become 11/12 or 92 per cent.

John Paul Pangilinan, Paranaque, Philippines

The surprise of snow in South Africa

With reference to the report People enjoy snow in Johannesburg for first time in more than a decade – in pictures (July 11): Snow is so special for us South Africans who are used to sunny winters (for the most part of the country), and it only falls on non-mountainous areas once in a few decades. Yesterday’s snowfall was much more than what we experienced in 2012, this amount of snow was last seen in Johannesburg in 1981.

Talita Coetzer, Dubai

Do superpowers have boundaries?

In reference to Laura O'Callaghan's report Joe Biden discusses cluster bombs for Ukraine in Downing Street talks with Rishi Sunak (July 10): It is entirely the US's business what they do. They are not answerable to the UK. America is a superpower. UK is a little island.

Judy Craemer, Knysna, Western Cape, South Africa

Good news for India and other countries that have progressed

With regard to Taniya Dutta's report UN praises 'remarkable' progress as 415 million Indians escape poverty (July 11): This was an interesting read and the progress that India has made in 15 years is laudable. It's also good to know that other countries such as China and Indonesia made great progress to reduce their poverty rates, as did Cambodia, Honduras, Morocco, Serbia and Vietnam. The goal should be for no one to ever go hungry.

K Ragavan, Bengaluru, India