Blistering win
Ageless Roger is the greatest of them all
REPORTS WHEN that ace thudded into the dark green canvas at the back of the court at precisely 3.51pm yesterday, the debate was finally over.
Match point won for a record eighth time, there were no longer any reasonable grounds for doubt. Roger Federer is the best male tennis player of all time.
It is not just that he has been so dominant on grass, which is always going to lend a favourable skew to his credentials in this country.
Nor is it to do with the global numbers – this win re-establishes Federer’s advantage of four Grand Slam titles over closest challenger Rafa Nadal.
In winning Wimbledon just two weeks before his 36th birthday, he became the oldest champion at SW19.
Indeed, during the Open era only Ken Rosewall has won a Grand Slam title when older.
For the first time in 41 years the men’s champion has won Wimbledon without dropping a single set – but that is not why Federer is now head and shoulders above Bjorn Borg, the last man to do so. It is all of those things, coupled with the remarkable style with which Federer does it all. The underrated but deadly serve. An effortless whip of a backhand. The easy lope with which those dancer’s feet trip across the ground.
There is always a sense that Federer is somehow playing within himself, like a dad in the park hitting rallies with his eightyear-old child. But the schooling the 35-year-old hands out to his opponents is rarely benign.
That said, yesterday Federer’s tennis was not the only thing that was blistering – so, it emerged, was Marin Cilic’s giant left foot. “They did as much as they could, but I still felt the pain,” he said.
“Every time I had to react fast, or have a fast change of movement, I was unable to do that.”
But while the painful calluses certainly contributed to the speed of his capitulation, it would be wrong to suggest Cilic’s injury affected the result. Another reason for Federer’s supremacy over his peers is that his evergreen body seems ready to deliver whenever the demand is made upon it.
Twelve months ago he made the decision that he had to manage his calendar to secure more days like yesterday. Since then he has sat out two Grand Slam events while other players had a go. The two Slams he entered, he has won.
“His desire to improve is one of the best in the game,” Cilic said. “Even at his age, he’s improving, still challenging himself to get better. All credit to him and his team that they find ways to get him to another level. And that’s not just talking about today’s final.”
Certainly Federer is wearing better than the Centre Court lawn he graced again.
Yet he never seems to suffer from any of the dodgy bounces moaned about by the less-imperious players lucky enough to be invited on to Wimbledon’s main stage.
Federer did look a little nervy at the start. A couple of double faults, then a pause and reload as he got ready for the ball toss. It was almost as if that famously lithe body was feeling tight under the pressure of history. Indeed it was Cilic who engineered the first break point. Big mistake. It jolted Federer back into his usual Centre Court groove and the impact was remarkable.
From break-point down, the Swiss won each of the next six points to turn the pressure on Cilic. The Croatian cracked, dumping a simple backhand into the net.
Federer’s own service game remained impeccable; having leaked that break point, he won the next 15 when starting with the ball in his own hand.
It was a run that stretched deep into the second set, while his rival had already fallen another break behind even before that tearful changeover in the second set when those blisters received medical attention.
Federer was at his merciless best. He won the second set with a service game that, from first toss to final ace, lasted 44 seconds.
Both arms were raised aloft when that last ace landed, a familiar pose.
The first time he won Wimbledon 14 years ago, organisers of his home tournament presented him with a cow. This time he has earned a GOAT.
Federer is the Greatest Of All Time.