CHAMP ROGER NEAR PERFECT
YOU can’t spell “perfect” without using Roger Federer’s initials in the middle. It’s probably no coincidence.
Yesterday on Centre Court the Swiss veteran glided into the third round in his usual, imperious fashion clocking up all manner of mind-scrambling statistics on his way.
Even by Federer’s immaculate standards, this 6-4 6-4 6-1 annihilation of Slovakian Lukas Lacko was something to behold.
At one point he rattled through 35 consecutive points on his own serve without dropping a single one of them. At an average rate of just 70 seconds per game.
In fact, he has now won his last 26 successive sets at the All England Club having claimed last year’s title without dropping one of them either.
In all of Federer’s pristine elegance he swatted a total of 48 winners past an increasingly frazzled looking Lacko.
And this is a guy who reached the final at Eastbourne just a couple of weeks ago. Federer, though, was completely unwilling to allow his new £220million whites to be stained by anything Lacko could fire at him from the other side of the net.
“You only play as well as your opponent allows you,” Federer grinned after making short work of his man. “Sure you can control your service games a bit more than the return games but what’s important is to be happy out there. To play as if you are having fun.
“Of course you have to look at the percentages but if you do that too much it becomes very boring. So I like to mix it up as much as possible and that worked out well today.
“But I might have to adjust my game for the next round because it’ll be against a completely different player.
“Lacko can play very well on grass. He’s been on the grass for while now and won a fair share of matches so I knew he had the rhythm. I knew I needed to put him away and I was able to do that which makes me very happy.”