All eyes focused once more on Federer and Williams
ROGER Federer is already the most prolific and oldest winner of the Wimbledon men’s singles title but when he saunters into the All England Club today, he will do so as favourite to lift the trophy for a ninth time.
The seemingly ageless Swiss, who turns 37 in August, has planned his year around defending the title he claimed last year by beating Croatia’s Marin Cilic. If anything, Federer’s 2017 Wimbledon fortnight was the most impressive of his career as he swept through the draw without losing a set for the first time – ending a five-year wait to nudge ahead of Pete Sampras on the all-time list.
Nothing that has happened in the past 12 months suggests Federer’s hunger is diminished with victory at this year’s Australian Open taking his grand slam title haul to 20.
He skipped the clay-court season that was again dominated by his great rival Rafael Nadal, who last month won the French Open for an 11th time to move to within three of Federer’s record grand slam tally.
Federer returned to the grass courts in Germany, winning in Stuttgart before reaching the Halle final this month, where he lost to Borna Coric.
While the Croat’s victory offers some encouragement for the rest of the field, Federer hasn’t dwelled on it.
After all, he lost to veteran German Tommy Haas in the build-up to last year’s Wimbledon but was untouchable once he arrived in his favourite English country garden.
“Federer is the favourite, he is playing at least as well as he was last year,” former world No.1 Mats Wilander said.
“Yes he has lost a few threeset matches this year but Wimbledon is completely different.”
Garbine Muguruza is the reigning Wimbledon champion but all eyes will be on Serena Williams next week when the American begins her mission to snatch back the title she believes she owns.
The 36-year-old Williams has not lost on the London lawns since she was upset by France’s Alize Cornet in 2014, winning the 2015 and 2016 titles to swell her Wimbledon tally to seven, two behind professionalera leader Martina Navratilova.
She watched on from afar last year as she prepared to give birth to daughter Alexis Olympia in September.
While she admits her return to competitive action has not been easy, Williams has been practising hard on the grass and few would bet against her becoming the first mother to win the title since Evonne Goolagong Cawley 38 years ago.
Should she achieve that feat she would equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 grand slam titles, although not all of the Australian’s were claimed during the professional era.
Williams has played only seven matches since returning to the tour but there were signs at the French Open, where she was not seeded but reached the fourth round before withdrawing with a pectoral injury, that she was moving in the right direction.