Wimbledon: Murray the favourite, but a Federer win would prompt celebrations just as wild in Britain
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Updated 06/07/2016 at 18:33 GMT
Now is the time, now is the moment. Roger Federer will probably never get a better chance to win another Wimbledon title. And he is well aware of it, writes Desmond Kane.
British fans support Roger Federer at Wimbledon
Image credit: Reuters
Roger Federer has been here before. Or rather he has been there before.
When Novak Djokovic, a figure seemingly omnipresent in Grand Slam finals before tennis was invented, was emptied out of the US Open semi-finals at Flushing Meadows by Kei Nishikori two years ago, Federer was immediately installed as the fresh favourite to clasp an elusive 18th Grand Slam.
Yet no Djokovic did not equate to no problem.
Federer was left not only confronting Marin Cilic, but the weight of perhaps his own personal demands, a younger, more motivated man chasing a first Slam and the burgeoning weight of goodwill from the crowd that had risen more steeply than the stands enveloping Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York.
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A general view of Arthur Ashe Stadium as Roger Federer serves
Image credit: Reuters
Flush with expectations at Flushing Meadows in facing a horizon without Djoker, the joke was on the artful Roger.
It is fair to say, Federer did not tank when opportunity knocked.
Rather it was Cilic, 27, who tore the great man's game to pieces with a towering display that the colossal Croat described as the “best performance of his career”.
Cilic unearthed 43 winners to 28 by Federer, bullying him from the back of the court and at net for larges swathes of a 6-3 6-4 6-4 success that ran for only one hour and 45 minutes.
It remains Federer’s only defeat in seven meetings with Cilic, but it was also the last time they met. The wounds of such a demolition may have healed, but Federer can recall the hurt.
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Roger Federer congratulates Marin Cilic
Image credit: Getty Images
He is aware that Djokovic departing raises serious prospects of an eighth Challenge Cup being thrust into his paws on Sunday evening but in sizing up 6ft 6in Cilic, it is dangerous talk to be dismissive of what will confront him on Wednesday afternoon on Centre Court.
At least Federer can console himself with the knowledge that he was not alone in being throttled. Cilic replicated his form in the US Open final with a crushing 6-3 6-3 6-3 win over Nishikori, whose own semi-final win over Djokovic meant little in the face of some brutal hitting by the bearded Cilic.
"I know what I'm getting into," said Federer ahead of his quarter-final with Cilic.
"He's really tough to play. He's really improved his serve in the last few years, especially since the US Open. He can clearly do it here at Wimbledon, too.
"He brushed me off the court like I was nothing a few years back in the US Open semis. I didn't play poorly in any way. It was very seldom that I was blown off the court like that.
"I had some chances. But every time I had a small chance, either he served another big serve, or on the return, he went for broke.
"But I'm happy about my game as well. I'm confident going into the Cilic match.”
Federer staged an amazing comeback on Centre Court to beat Marin Cilic in five sets, 6-7 4-6 6-3 7-6 6-3.
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Marin Cilic celebrates his victory over Roger Federer (AFP)
Image credit: AFP
When news of Djokovic being detonated by Sam Querrey in the third round filtered through to Centre Court on Saturday afternoon, Andy Murray was taking a breather, and was hardly being put through the mill in clubbing John Millman.
An obvious frisson engulfed the crowd, many of whom started cheering, whooping and hollering like there were vats of free Pimms on offer, giddy on the dreams given to Scotland’s great white hope by Djokovic, holder of all four Grand Slam trinkets, departing at the untold hour.
But something stirred somewhere else in South West London. The news must have tricked through to the Federer base camp that his great nemesis Djokovic, winner against the Swiss in the past two Wimbledon finals, last year’s US Open final and the semi-final of this year’s Australian Open, had gone long before his time.
One can imagine a warm feeling must have illuminated RF's soul, but that is a fleeting experience: there is work to be done by sport's greatest sculptor as another opportunity presents itself. Perhaps his greatest opportunity, perhaps his last chance to lift another Slam above a sweatbanded head more famous than Bjorn Borg brandishing his wooden racket in these parts.
Murray is 8/11 odds-on favourite to win a second Wimbledon title after the 2013 success, but then again the UK was odds-on to avoid Brexit a fortnight ago. In real terms, Murray is marginally ahead of 14/5 shot Federer, whose pedigree must give him real optimism of what could lie ahead. Especially if it rains on Centre Court over the weekend.
Without Djokovic, the world number three Federer is seeded to face Querrey or Milos Raonic on Friday then Murray in Sunday’s final. It would be a 50-50 match with Federer usurping the Scotsman to lift the last of his Grand Slams under the roof in 2012 before Murray rampaged to Olympic gold a few weeks later amid altogether more sultry surroundings.
It is arguably a final match that British sports fans could not lose. When a vintage Federer felled Murray in last year’s semi-final, it would be fair to say there was as much if not more popular support for the Swiss than the man from Dunblane on Centre Court.
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Roger Federer (Wimbledon 2016)
Image credit: AFP
It is said that old age does not come alone. A week ago, Federer said “he was not thinking of the title” as he coped with a bad back that forced him to miss last month's French Open, ending an astonishing run of 65 consecutive appearances at the sport's prime events.
Djokovic's dad Srdjan has questioned why the Basle bloke is still playing the sport in his mid-30s. Yet Federer could never be accused of lacking a thought process about what remains for him in this game.
The Djokovic defeat was the ultimate tennis tranquiliser, the perfect anaesthetic for the wear and tear of that has left Federer needing an operation to sort out a knee problem, the first in his career, and without a trophy in the first six months of a calendar year since 2000.
Federer's final furlong is one without Djokovic. Now is the time, now is the moment.
He turns 35 in August. He would become the second oldest winner of a Slam behind Ken Rosewall, who carried off the Australian Open at the age of 37 in 1972, but the ferocity of competition in modern times would be another part of Mr Federer's Opus, perhaps the sweetest.
He is suddenly a mixture of Jack Nicklaus, aged 46, winning the US Masters in 1986, Muhammad Ali in the Jungle against George Foreman in '74 and Paul Newman playing 'Fast' Eddie Felson in the Colour of Money. Only one of those were fiction. Federer is very much fact. He is representing the fading of an era in tennis as much as his people.
"I love this tournament more than anything. It's a huge opportunity for me to turn around the season," he said.
He has won four matches on his favourite surface, and has yet to drop a set in 12 played so far. The preparations sound as serene as the way he moves.
"I've been resting, watching some football, playing with my kids in the yard, doing treatment, watching tennis," he said.
"I think it's important right now to be in that mindset. My friends, my family, everybody around me did all the Beyonce, Matilda, all the stuff I wanted to do, too, but just not right now. Right now I have other goals."
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Switzerland's Roger Federer celebrates winning his match against USA's Steve Johnson.
Image credit: Eurosport
The goal could not be grander. All he wants is one more Sunday afternoon in the sun at SW19. All he wants is one more chance to remind the crowd why he is cherished as much in Great Britain as our own Great Brits. Henman Hill or Murray Mound could easily be renamed Roger's Range if he flowers like yesteryear in the autumn of his career.
Federer in another Wimbledon final is a sight we all want to see. It is difficult not to rejoice at Federer for how he has elevated tennis to a level that it can be appreciated as thing of real beauty, a happening to be admired like the world's great works of art rather than a sport for two sweaty sluggers.
Watching Federer soothes the mind to such an extent that it seems human beings were born to play tennis, as if their very systems were made to support this unusual sporting synergy.
His backhand stroke on the move is more like Da Vinci's brushstroke. Not for nothing has Federer's self-expression been described as a "bloody near-religious experience". If God made man in his own image, he created Federer in how he'd like to tackle tennis.
Djokovic with his 12 Slams may yet progress to be the greatest, but nobody has or will elevate the chasing and hitting of a small ball to a higher plane than Federer. In Brexit Britain, he symbolises European unity. We'll miss him when he's gone.
"In life, there's so much more to come," said Federer. "In tennis, there's not that much more. I hope there is a bit more in tennis. I hope I can win Wimbledon one more time. That would be nice."
Nice does not do it justice.
If Federer defies Old Father time, it will be a success greeted with as much relish in Blighty as in Basle.
Desmond Kane
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