Roger’s found eternal youth
SEARCH around the attic of Roger Federer’s Swiss mansion and, tucked behind a curtain, behind the rows and rows of trophies slowly gathering dust, there is almost certainly a portrait.
It is of an ageing tennis player, dressed in all-white. Grey hairs sprout from the temples, a recognisable headband pushes back a thin scraggle rather than a raging mop of hair.
The arms look veiny from age and constant punishment, while just above the waistband of the shorts, a small paunch is just beginning to show.
The knees are slightly bowed from hours and hours spent running backwards and forwards and the shoulders hunch slightly from the wear-and-tear of hitting so many ball so hard.
That is what a 35-yearold tennis player is supposed to look like. On the evidence of his 7-6, 7-6, 6-4 schooling of Tomas Berdych on Centre Court, Federer has discovered the secret of eternal youth.
No, better than that, he has discovered eternal “prime”. Because who would want to spend forever as the fiery, argumentative youngster that first arrived in SW19,
18 years ago. Certainly not Federer who was reminded it is now five years since he last won this trophy. “You make it sound like the gap is huge,” he said. “I don’t feel like it’s that long ago to be honest. “2003 feels like ages ago, because of the ponytail, the beard, whatever, you name it. The team was much smaller. I didn’t have kids running around, potentially waking me up at night. Today we’ve got to, like, close down the doors, say, Daddy is sleeping. “This one is different but I kind of look the same back in 2012, or at least I hope so.” It was two years before that last success these two last met here. Then, Berdych easily dispatched a more sluggish, heavylegged Federer in four sets. Perhaps the 28-year-old six-time champion was getting old, many – including, somewhat embarrassingly, myself – surmised at the time. Fast forward seven years and how wrong can you be? Playing better than ever, looking on his way to an eighth title. “If you look at the other guys who are 35, 36, you can very clearly see that the age and the years on tour are affecting them,” Berdych said. “But not with him. He’s doing the things the very right way and you have to be unique to do that. It’s not just a case of saying OK, you’re going to take a half year rest.
“If I take a half year’s rest without a tournament, I don’t know if I could come back. So things don’t work like that for everyone. But it’s very nice that he’s proving that this is the ideal way.”
Berdych, now 31, is also a tough nut to crack. In his 87 service games here before today, he had only been broken three times.
And yet Federer managed to produce a break point in the very first game and needed just three games to get his break.
In a rare moment of fallibility, the No11 seed managed to break back when the Swiss double-faulted to take the first set to a tiebreak. But then, as in the second-set tiebreak nearly an hour later, Federer simply moved through the gears and eased past his opponent. Berdych’s forehand had been just that little bit too powerful to contain, while Federer’s accuracy was too consistent on the other side.
A gentle fist pump in front of his chest as the third set got underway was a sign that, for him at least, Federer was getting more animated. When he lost a poor point in the next game, frustrated, he hit the ball high into the blue sky. It landed on the baseline – even his tantrums are inch-perfect.
Federer saved two break points with impeccable aces. The impetus of that rescue carried into the next game, when that elusive break finally did arrive, a limp Berdych backhand landing in the tramlines.
The denouement happened quickly. Federer rattled through his service game and though Berdych held, the Swiss sprang from his chair intent on seeing this through.
Five points later it was over – Federer acknowledging the crowd as the final Berdych swipe smacked into the net.
Who was ever going to stop him, though? Andy Murray was not fit enough. Nor was Novak Djokovic, even though the Serb continued to haunt SW19 yesterday, his image depicted on the tongues of Berdych’s shoes. Rafa Nadal was just too flaky.
Marin Cilic? Sadly for the Croatian, the writing, along with the Federer portrait, is definitely on the wall.