Federer can make history with win vs. Cilic in final
stay focused.”
He has won every set he has played in six matches, and while he did not exactly dominate against 11thseeded Berdych, Federer was never in much trouble. Sunday, Federer will face 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic, who reached his first Wimbledon final by eliminating 24th-seeded American Sam Querrey, 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-5, with the help of 25 aces and some terrific returning.
“This is his home court,” Cilic said about Federer, “[The] place where he feels the best and knows that he can play the best game.”
Since equaling Pete Sampras and William Renshaw (who played in the 1880s) with a seventh trophy at Wimbledon in 2012, Federer has come this close before to No. 8. But he lost to Novak Djokovic in the 2014 and 2015 finals.
Here comes another chance.
Federer would be the oldest man to win Wimbledon in the Open era, which dates to 1968; as it is, he’s the oldest finalist since Ken Rosewall was 39 in 1974.
“I mean, I don’t see anything that would indicate really Roger is getting older or anything like that,” said Berdych, who wore sneakers with a silhouette of Djokovic’s face on the tongue because his own usual shoes were uncomfortable. “He’s just proving his greatness in our sport.”
Also noteworthy: This is Federer’s second major final of 2017. After losing in the Wimbledon semifinals a year ago, he took the rest of 2016 off to let his surgically repaired left knee heal. He came back fit and refreshed and won the Australian Open in January for his record-extending 18th Grand Slam title and first anywhere in 4½ years.
“Giving your body rest from time to time is a good thing, as we see now,” Federer said. “And I’m happy it’s paying off because for a second, of course, there is doubts there that maybe one day you’ll never be able to come back and play a match on Centre Court at Wimbledon. But it happened, and it’s happened many, many times this week.”
And most of the 15,000 or so people in attendance were pulling for him. That was evident throughout Friday, from the cries of “Go, Roger!” to the roars of approval and thunderous applause that greeted some of his best efforts on a day when he was not necessarily at his vintage, wondrous best.
“I was able to come up with the goods when it mattered,” Federer said.
Now that No. 7-seeded Croatian Cilic has beaten Querrey, his next test is the toughest of all — beating Federer at Centre Court. They met in the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2016, when Cilic took the opening two sets and even held a match point before Federer came back to win, improving to 6-1 head-to-head.