Roger ready for the power of his old rival Marin

player. To have another chance to go for No 8 now, to be so close at this stage, is a great feeling. I’m unbelievably excited. I hope I can play one more good match. ‘Eleven finals here, all these records, it’s great. But it doesn’t give me the title quite yet. That’s why I came here this year. I’m so close now.’ Federer is the oldest man to reach the men’s singles final since Ken Rosewall in 1974. Having seen off 6ft 5in Berdych, Federer will face another big-hitting giant in 6ft 6in Cilic. ‘Everybody’s growing,’ the world No 5 said. ‘Everybody’s getting taller. It was a good match. He’s got power, and so has Marin. ‘So, I’m in for a tough one. Plus we had a great match here last year (in the quarter-finals).’ Federer dismissed talk that he had been handed an advantage by being put on Centre Court in

every round by the All England Club. ‘You take it, you accept it, and you move on with it,’ said Federer. ‘I’m always ready for them to put me on the second court or any other court they want. They decide, not me. ‘The only thing you can do is try to get your ranking up, achieve something to hopefully make you a draw card in the tournament.’ On his future, he added: ‘I’ll be very cautious of how much I play, how much I think is healthy.’ His conquered opponent Berdych said: ‘I don’t see anything that would indicate Roger is getting older. He’s just proving his greatness.’