An effortless genius with a ruthless streak
THERE was not so much as a sideways glance as Roger Federer strode out, promptly, to recommence play after the third game of the second set.
He might have been aware of the commotion surrounding the weeping Marin Cilic on the other side of the umpire’s chair, but he was defiantly not interested.
Federer stood on the baseline as Cilic tried to compose himself. ‘Let’s play,’ was the message.
It was a reminder that you do not win 19 Grand Slam titles by being Mother Teresa. You do it by being a hard, unerring competitor.
Of course it helps when you are blessed with unparalleled talent, and off court have the social skills and self-awareness that those of a rare genius do not possess.
It adds up to an incredibly scarce package, and those who yesterday paid £195 — or in some cases many multiples of that — for a ticket will console themselves that they will not see the like of Federer again.
Tomas Berdych, who played much better against Federer in the semi-final than the stricken Cilic did in this match, had a good line when asked if there was anything that his opponent was bad at.
‘Challenging,’ offered Berdych, referring to Federer’s use of Hawk-Eye. Unfortunately for Cilic, Federer even got that right yesterday, successfully having a hairline first serve call of ‘out’ reversed.
Among the milestones passed yesterday was that of Jack Nicklaus’s 18 major golf victories. Not satisfied with lifting the bar in one sport, he seems to be barging in on another.
Incredibly, it is now likely that he will regain the world No 1 spot, and stand astride the top of the sport for the first time since late October 2012. That after playing only seven tournaments in the past 12 months.
This would reflect how Federer and Rafael Nadal have wrested back control after the insurgency of Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and the sometimes overlooked Stan Wawrinka.
They have done what they did in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010, which is to win the first three majors of the year between them. They contested the final in Australia. Nadal took the French Open five weeks ago without dropping a set, and now Federer has emulated him at Wimbledon. The other three do not presently look in shape to do anything to disrupt this being the retro season.
In this coming week there is likely to be a firmer indication about where Murray, whose world No 1 status is starting to look fairly token, is in regard to his troublesome hip. Details remain scant, although it now looks like he had an injection to try to get him through Wimbledon.
Djokovic is weighing up what to do about his right elbow, which has been intermittently troubling him for 18 months. His coaching situation remains in flux, while Wawrinka retreated from SW19 with a bad knee.
There is also the nagging suspicion that the claims you hear from administrators and top players, men and women, about the strength in depth of professional tennis never having been greater are bogus.
However great the pedigree of Federer and Venus Williams, we have just had a fortnight when a near 36-year-old man has churned through the draw like a combine harvester. A 37-year- old woman with health issues and off- court distractions had two points to go a set up in the final, before drastically subsiding. Murray nearly reached the semis on one leg. The reality might be that there are more players who can play to a decent level, helped by racket and string technology and supreme fitness levels, but fewer have the class needed to disrupt the elite.
For 15 years now the Wimbledon title has been shared among four players, and the much-vaunted next generation still seem to be hiding under the stairs.
The two most serious potential disruptors of the established order, Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem, at least made the last 16.
Not that you can say it is bad for the game while you have authentic superstars such as Federer and Nadal still winning the biggest tournaments, worshipped by fans around the world. One of the most telling moments in the final came in the sixth game, when the Swiss first broke serve.
On the second point they had a wonderful exchange which ended with Federer effortlessly reaching a clever dink from Cilic and flicking it over the net post for a winner to make it 0-30.
The throaty roar from the Centre Court crowd seemed to suck the air from Cilic’s lungs, and that is the kind of thing opponents have to cope with when they face someone who is so popular.
But then it is not hard to see the reasons for that. Apart from his beautifully fluid style, Federer gets on with it at a pace that does not let boredom set in.
Blessedly, he shows that you can win without indulging in that scourge of the modern game, the grunt or shriek. The last time he was caught swearing roughly coincides with the last time Switzerland invaded one of their neighbours.
It was a shame that it was over so quickly, but another historical coincidence in a tournament that has been full of them was that the match time of one hour and 41 minutes was exactly the same as when he beat Andy Roddick in the 2005 final.
Nothing could better illustrate that Federer looked like he had been cryogenically frozen in time before reappearing this fortnight. A truly extraordinary champion for the ages.