Fed Express
The Swiss great has his fans in raptures as he looks poised to make Wimbledon history tonight, writes
Roger steaming towards eighth Wimbledon title
Uncertainty, they say, is the life blood of sport. This may be true in the majority of cases. But when Roger Federer plays tennis, many of his admirers don’t care whether the match is close. They just want to see peak Roger: their idol at his most magisterial. So where would we place yesterday’s 7-6 7-6 6-4 victory over Tomas Berdych on this scale? It was probably an eight out of ten, maybe climbing to eight-and-a-half. To put it another way, Federer produced more magic in 138 minutes than many players have conjured up in their entire careers. He received a standing ovation at the end.
In her marvellous book Love Game, Elizabeth Wilson wrote that “The tennis match may seem at one level like a duel or a fight, but it is also a dance, with its own elaborate courtesies more like a day at the opera at Glyndebourne than an afternoon of football at the Emirates Stadium.” This is never more true than when Federer is playing.
Federer’s opponent, as far as most spectators are concerned, is not there to remove him from the tournament. God forbid! Instead, he is like the straight man in a comedy duo, or the assistant in an illusionist’s act: someone to weave tricks and routines around. And then to accept a sympathetic round of applause, while the true star takes the bouquets.
Berdych has played this role to perfection over the years. He, Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori have long been the bridesmaids of the tour. Immensely rugged and powerful, with the physique of a Greek god, he served at a ferocious lick yesterday, making breaks hard to come by. As a result, he extended Federer past the two-hour mark for the first time in this tournament. But did anyone really think Berdych could win?
The challenger’s plan was to launch a series of piledriving crosscourt forehands. In the early stages, Berdych succeeded in knocking Federer off balance with this tactic.
Yet Federer adapted, making use of his vast repertoire and uncanny hand skills. Berdych doesn’t have that luxury, being more of a slugger than a creator. He was simply too predictable, both in his patterns of play and his familiar inability to find something otherworldly when it mattered most.
Not everything that Federer tried came off. He threw in a couple of his most flamboyant drop shots — the ones where the ball performs a vertical, Harrier Jump Jet-style takeoff and landing — without putting either in court. He also sent out obvious signals of frustration at his inability to take complete control of the match. One framed backhand was followed by a growl and a petulant kick at the ball.
But there were also plenty of micro miracles — the shots nobody else can play, and that will be sorely missed when Federer does finally hang up his racquet. Anyone can
hit a forehand passing shot up the line, given time to set their feet. But to do it on the half-volley, while still coming out of your service action? So many elements go into that: balance, anticipation, co-ordination and touch.
“It’s very difficult,” Berdych said afterwards. “Roger doesn’t give you any rhythm at all. He’s playing barely with any mistakes.”
A couple of times, Federer even held a service game in less than a minute — which is roughly the amount of time Rafael Nadal takes to get ready for the first point.
How does Marin Cilic — who booked his final spot by beating American Sam Querrey 6-7 (6) 6-4 7-6 (3) 7-5 — go about trying to halt the Fed Express tonight? Federer intimated yesterday that he feared a repeat of their 2014 US Open semifinal, in which he was unable to collect a set against a zoning Cilic. But then Federer was not playing with the same mystical sense of self-possession in 2014 that he is today.
Destiny just seems to be pointing to another old-stager lifting a major title in 2017. When Federer won the Australian Open in January, it was the shock heard around the world. But when Rafael Nadal took last month’s French Open without dropping a set, nobody blinked — not after the three titles Nadal had already won in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid.
In the case of Wimbledon, a Federer coronation had seemed on the cards since he blitzed the up-and-coming Alexander Zverev in the final of Halle, his traditional grasscourt warm-up event. Like Nadal at Roland Garros, he has also cruised through with a perfect record — 18 sets played, 18 sets won. And yet there is still a sense that there is more to come.
“I feel very privileged to be in another Wimbledon final,” Federer told the BBC as he came off court. “I can’t almost believe it’s true. I’m happy I have a day off [today] where I can reflect on everything I did this year and this tournament so I can really get ready for that final and hopefully play a good one.”
Asked how he would prepare, he replied “Just make sure I sleep well, really take it easy, so when I do come out on court, I have all the energy and all the resources in my mind to play inspired and creative tennis.”
That’s what the punters come to see.