FLYING FED
Ruthless Roger on course for a record 8th title
ROGER FEDERER is one win away from a record eighth Wimbledon title after reaching the final without dropping a set.
The 35-year-old swiss saw off Czech Tomas Berdych 7-6, 7-6, 6-4 yesterday in another masterclass on Centre Court. And Federer now faces seventh seed Marin Cilic of Croatia tomorrow, aiming to become the oldest winner of the men’s singles in the Open era.
He said: ‘Making history here, it’s a big deal. I love this tournament. All my dreams came true here as a
THE headband may be camouflaging a receding hairline, but nothing else betrays the ageing process in Roger Federer. he is into his 11th Wimbledon final at 35, and will try to defy nature again tomorrow when he faces Marin Cilic, looking to win an eighth title, 14 years after his first one.
The figures come tumbling out when considering the greatness of Federer at Wimbledon, but the only ones that mattered to him yesterday evening were those constituting a 7-6, 7-6, 6-4 scoreline, enough to see off the robust challenge of Tomas Berdych.
Nor can mere numbers describe aspects such as the ease of movement around the court, or the fluency of groundstrokes that were too penetrating even for a Czech opponent with so much easy power at his disposal.
It was beauty and the baseline beasts in the semi-finals. The odd one out — this relatively Lilliputian figure at 6ft 1in — is the player the Centre Court wish to savour while he is still around.
Federer is turning back not just his own clock, but an entire sport’s. Already he has become the oldest man to reach the Wimbledon final since the watching Ken Rosewall and Federer is a hot favourite to be holding the trophy by tomorrow teatime.
‘I almost can’t believe it’s true,’ said the Swiss, who not only holds the Australian Open title but also won March’s Masters events at Indian Wells and Miami.
he will go into the final with a 6-1 record over Cilic, although the rangy Croat nearly knocked him out in the quarter-finals last year. That was a different Federer. his knee was bothering him and he packed in the season after his subsequent semi-final defeat.
That break, and the one he took over the clay- court season this spring after Miami, have paid spectacular dividends.
At times it has looked ridiculously easy, but as Tiger Woods — to whom he used to be compared — has shown, sustaining such a level over a decade and a half is anything but straightforward.
Now, only weeks shy of turning 36, he arrives in another final not having dropped so much as a set. The onset of middle age be damned.
While everyone wants more of Federer, Berdych is not among them, having suffered more at the hands of the Big Four than anyone. his consistency has made him a distinctive figure, although having run out of properly fitting grass-court shoes, he was issued yesterday with a pair that bore the face of Novak Djokovic on the tongue.
Federer had an early break point but it was not until the fifth game that he converted one, hitting a drive forehand volley that had the Centre Court almost salivating at the exquisite nature of his play. Demoralisingly for his opponent, he followed it up with a hold of serve that took just 48 seconds.
What remains so astonishing about Federer on grass is the way he is able to nimbly make tiny adjustments at the last nanosecond, and never has that been more valuable on what is now a very rickety Centre Court surface.
And everything was looking so smooth until his first serve stopped working at 4-3 and he was broken back, thanks to two double faults that met with two sulky — and unsuccessful — challenges to hawk-eye.
It has always seemed possible that if anything might derail him this year it is the nerves that come with believing he can win an 18th Grand Slam title, and they would be tested in the opening tiebreak.
Berdych, however, is not known to be the strongest in this department, and helpfully slapped a short forehand into the net to give Federer the advantage at 4-2, which he managed to hold on to.
Berdych forced a break point at 3-3 in the second set that Federer saved with a raking crosscourt forehand, before they steamed on to another tiebreak.
This time it was death by forehand for the Czech, as Federer reeled off one winner after another to go 5- 1 up. There was another edgy double fault but by then the cushion was too big and again it went 7-4 in Federer’s favour.
Still Berdych would not go away, and he forced two break points at 2-3 in the third.
The response from the best ‘spot’ server of all time — the most accurate — was to ping down four unplayable deliveries, including three aces.
Federer wrapped it up after two hours and 18 minutes, and it was not even as if Berdych was left with much for which to reproach himself.