WIMBLEDON: Bad elbow sinks Djokovic
Time off has paid dividends for Roger Federer, who missed the last half of 2016 to allow his surgically repaired left knee heal, then skipped the clay-court season this year. He, Djokovic, Murray and Rafael Nadal combined to win the past 14 Wimbledon titles, but only Federer now remains in the field.
The 35-year-old Federer, who has won seven of his record 18 Grand Slam championships at the All England Club, is the grass-court tournament’s oldest semifinalist since Ken Rosewall in 1974 at age 39. Federer produced a straightforward 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory over Milos Raonic, the man who beat him in last year’s semifinals.
On Friday, Federer will face Berdych for a berth in the final. Querrey meets 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic of Croatia, who got past 16th-seeded Gilles Muller 3-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 with the help of 33 aces. Muller eliminated Nadal in the fourth round.
Querrey hit 27 aces against Murray and was impeccable for portions of the match, finishing with 70 winners and only 30 unforced errors. He also managed to move past one really bad mistake in the third-set tiebreaker: an overhead that he dumped into the bottom of the net.
“He was dictating all of the points,” Murray said.
And Murray was fading.
From 1-all in the fourth, Querrey grabbed eight games in a row to take that set and lead 3-0 in the last.
“I didn’t start my best, but I just kept with it. Kept swinging away and then really found a groove in the fourth and fifth set,” Querrey said. “And everything kind of seemed to be falling my way then.”
It’s the second year in a row the 29-year-old Californian upset the defending champion and No. 1 seed at the All England Club. In 2016, he ended Djokovic’s 30match Grand Slam winning streak by beating him in the third round.
This is Querrey’s 42nd Grand Slam tournament, the most ever played by a man in the Open era before getting to his first semifinal.
And there were moments along the way when Querrey himself doubted he’d ever accomplish this.
“Last year definitely kind of gave me a new boost that I could do it. But there have been times in my career,” he said, “where I definitely thought: If had to bet – ‘Am I going to make a semi?’ – I probably would have gone, ‘No.”’
But he’s won three straight five-setters.