Federer crashes out as Nadal battles to set up Djokovic showdown

Pages 48-49

ROGER FEDERER had repelled bullets and reloaded his own guns, but after a brutal 90-minute deciding set, the greatest player Wimbledon has ever known was finally beaten.

An epic day’s drama had held the crowd’s attention through a four-hour and 14-minute marathon, and at the end, still strong, still firing the big serves, was Kevin Anderson, the 32-year-old South African putting his own spoke into proceedings.

He not only showed resolve but fought the tides of a crowd in which the only people supporting him must have been his blood relatives.

The Federer supporters had urged their man on, hoping in the final dingdong set that he could finally break Anderson’s serve. Surely, the eighth- highest ranked player in the world, would buckle under the pressure or simply run out of steam.

But he never remotely wilted as he closed in on the prize. He just kept firing those bullets, his magazine full to the end. He had overcome a matchpoint in the third set and he was not going to waste that moment of escapology with a lack of delivery when it mattered.

‘I kept telling myself it was my day,’ said Anderson.

Nerves were being chewed. Most Federer supporters had expected to be on Centre Court watching the great Swiss but the All England Club instead put his match on next door. It was a strange decision. Federer by dint of his deeds here might have expected a more favourable home for his talents yesterday, and his camp were less than delighted.

Afterwards, he refused to blame his unaccustomed surroundings — it was his first appearance on Court No 1 since 2015 — for the defeat.

Anderson had never taken a set off Federer in four previous matches, but he is now a more determined bludgeoner than he was when they last met three years ago. Since then he has become the oldest first-time Grand Slam finalist for 44 years, in the 2017 US Open.

For all those positive statements on his recent CV, he could not stop Federer starting well enough to go a set up in a breezy 26 minutes. He was on his way, seemingly, to a straight-sets win that would mean 35 consecutive sets to his name at Wimbledon, beating his own record of 34.

But, despite winning the second set and having a match point in the third, it was not to be. Anderson broke Federer in the fourth set and never let his foot off Federer’s neck.

The fifth set was an epic fight that was decided when Anderson broke to 30 and then served out for his dramatic fightback victory.

Federer said: ‘I’m up two sets to one. It’s all good, so... At that point I wasn’t thinking of losing. He’s got a nice, big serve that he can rely heavily on. I always thought he returns well off second serves, especially if you give him the small one. He can really lean on to it.

‘I just don’t know exactly how I couldn’t create more opportunities once the third set came around. I had chances, so it’s disappointing. No doubt about it.’

There was a sense of poignancy in seeing Federer pack his bags in the late afternoon sun and walk off beaten yet applauded by all. Given he is 36, we will not see him many more times around here, however well he has husbanded his natural physical resources. But he confirmed that he wants to return next year.

He said that losing yesterday will motivate him to come back for more, to leave these premises on his own terms. He talked of this place being where his heroes won.

‘It gives me a good vibe,’ he said. ‘I’ll be back.’