Federer still has plenty of game
One of my favourite descriptions of Roger Federer came from Gael Monfils, partly because the wonderfully odd Frenchman speaks English in a way that gets his point across with an economy of words.
It was at the U.S. Open a few summers ago and Monfils had two match points against the Swiss legend that Federer, then 33, dispatched with a couple of spectacular winners. Monfils said he was mad at himself after missing the close-out chance and he lost his concentration for a few minutes: “And Roger just jump on me. He could easy.”
Federer, sensing the moment, threw the full maestro at his opponent. Baseline shots, serveand-volley, charge the net one point and sit back the next.
“That’s why he’s the greatest player, because he can do everything,” Monfils said. “You know, he just feel good.”
Federer, who will turn 36 in three weeks, hasn’t been the greatest player on the men’s side for some time, not in this remarkable era when two of the other very best-ever are also toiling. The last time he was ranked No. 1 in the world was almost five years ago.
But Federer has taken a large step toward yet another unlikely exclamation point on his absurd career with his win over Tomas Berdych Friday that put him back in the Wimbledon final. Every time we start saying things about Federer and twilight, the guy finds a way to make the skies lighten again.
If he can beat Marin Cilic on Sunday — no small feat — Federer will claim his 19th Grand Slam title, which would extend his record on the men’s side and give him two this season, after his amazing win over Rafael Nadal in Melbourne in January. It would also mean his time alongside golfing legend Jack Nicklaus in the “18 majors” club would be surprisingly brief.
The comparison to golf does have some use. Even when it looked like an obvious certainty that Tiger Woods would surpass Nicklaus in major wins, there was an argument in Jack’s favour that he did all his winning in an era of giants. He played against Palmer and Player, then Watson and Ballesteros, while Woods never had a true rival.
Federer’s greatness has been much more of the Nicklaus version.
He has won more big tournaments than anyone, but he has also finished near the top more than anyone, even as Novak Djokovic and Nadal conducted their own assaults on the record books. Federer’s 18 Grand Slam titles are all the more absurd when you consider they came as those other two guys were winning a combined 27.
Federer’s march to the final in London gives him a record 29th appearance in a Grand Slam final and a record 11th appearance in the Wimbledon final. In both cases, he’s merely extending his own record.
Once you start examining Federer’s records, it can get a little dizzying. He’s been in more Slam semifinals (42) and quarter-finals (50) than anyone, and he once appeared in an insane 23 straight Grand Slam semis. Think about how hard that is: almost six full seasons where he made the final four in each of the four biggest tournaments on the calendar.
Federer’s win over Berdych also extended his record of career Slam singles wins to 320. Djokovic is next at 237. If Federer wins Sunday, he could retire Monday and Djokovic could win the next 12 majors — seven match wins each — and he would only tie Federer’s career mark.
For all the record-making, though, what makes Federer such a joy to watch is that thing Monfils alluded to. Federer can do everything. He’s not particularly big or fast, he doesn’t overwhelm with a big serve or sit back and chase down every baseline shot like a metronome.
He just makes shots. He makes all the shots.
Against Berdych Friday, having eked out the first two sets in tiebreakers, Federer found himself facing two break points in an on-serve third set. He proceeded to rip off 12 of the next 14 points, saving his service game, breaking Berdych, and holding his serve again. Five minutes, tops, and the place in the final was all but booked.
Peak Federer, the guy that won 11 majors from 2004-07, cruised so often that he has said it took him until late in his career to know what it was like to lose. He said after beating Monfils in 2014 that he wasn’t sure if he had ever saved a match point in a Slam before. Which, I mean, come on.
In the never-ending dusk of Roger Federer, he has learned how to lose.
But he hasn’t forgotten how to win, either.