Painful exits for Djokovic, Murray as Federer conjures up some magic
LONDON: Three-times Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic’s painful year continued as he retired with an elbow injury during his quarter-final against Czech Tomas Berdych yesterday.
The second seed had lost the opening set and was down a break in the second when he walked to the net and shook his opponent’s hand.
The retirement, with the score at 7-6(2) 2-0, came shortly after the 30-year-old Serb called a medical timeout.
Djokovic said his right elbow had been bothering him for over a year and a half and that he had been feeling pain from the beginning of the tournament.
“The intensity and the level of pain was not decreasing. It was only increasing as the days went by,” he said. “Unfortunately, today was the worst day.
“It’s unfortunate that I had to finish Wimbledon, a grand slam, this way,” he added. “I mean, if someone feels bad about it, it’s me. But, you know, I tried.”
Elsewhere, Andy Murray admitted to battling pain throughout Wimbledon after he hobbled to a quarter-final exit at the hands of Sam Querrey yesterday having failed to overcome a troublesome hip injury.
The defending champion was beaten 3-6 6-4 6-7(4) 6-1 6-1 by the giant American, who fought hard to stay in the match before cutting loose as the world number one became increasingly immobile.
The Briton came into the tournament under a cloud, facing questions about his fitness after a first-round exit at the grasscourt warm-up event at Queen’s.
He came through his first four matches at the all England Club relatively unscathed, although his movement around the court never looked truly comfortable.
Against Querrey, however, he was clearly in pain and lost the final two sets in less than 47 minutes.
“The whole tournament I’ve been a little bit sore. But I tried my best right to the end and gave everything I had. I’m proud about that,” Murray told reporters.
“But it’s obviously disappointing to lose at Wimbledon. There’s obviously an opportunity there. So I’m sad that it’s over.”
Murray said he would analyse his options to decide on the best form of rehabilitation, but would not be drawn into any hasty decisions.
Meanwhile, Croatian Marin Cilic reached the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time with a five-set win over Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller and said he now had real belief in his ability to go all the way.
Cilic won his only grand slam title at the US Open in 2014 and has been in the last eight at the All England Club for four straight years.
Now he will face Querrey for a place against Roger Federer or Berdych in Sunday’s final after beating Luxembourg’s Muller 3-6 7-6(6) 7-5 5-7 6-1.
The seventh-seeded Croat said his triumph three years ago at Flushing Meadows transformed his confidence levels.
“I would say winning the US Open has helped me for all these grand slams I have played so far, and I believe the rest of my career,” he said.
“Preparation-wise I believe in my own abilities. I believe when coming to these stages of the tournament, I’m going to still be able to play great tennis. I know I have it in me that I can win. That’s extremely important,” he said.
The 28-year-old said he had found a new focus that had enabled him to approach each contest in the right frame of mind.
“I think an extremely important part is to be mentally fresh, mentally ready. It’s a matter of a few points here and there that can make a huge difference.
“I believe these last couple of months with being really mentally focused every single match has helped me to get to the point where I’m a little bit stronger mentally. I believe that can make a huge difference,” he said.
Cilic was seen by many observers, including seven-times Wimbledon winner Federer, as the one player from outside the top five who could be a real challenger this year at Wimbledon and that appears to have also boosted the Croat’s morale.
“It’s great for me to hear that even he, and a lot of players around, even ex-players, when they were looking before the tournament started, that they were seeing me as a player that could go quite deep (into the tournament),” he said.
“That had given me a little bit more belief, a little bit more confidence that players and people around are also seeing that I’m in a great form, that I’m able to do great things.
“I think that just gave me a little bit more reassurance in myself, and obviously a great power that I managed to get to that level.”
Federer says the key to winning majors is making sure his average is as high as possible – every round.
There is nothing average about Federer, though, as he proved again by turning his 100th Wimbledon match into an exhibition of his magic, outclassing Milos Raonic 6-4 6-2 7-6(4) to reach the semi-finals for a record 12th time.
The Swiss maestro, 36 next month, played his best tennis of the tournament to dismantle the big-serving Canadian – avenging last year’s semi-final defeat in stunning fashion.
With Murray losing earlier on Centre Court to Querrey and Djokovic retiring with an injury against Berdych, Federer is now overwhelming favourite to become the first man to win the title eight times.
“I can’t believe it’s 100 matches, it’s a lot but I’m very happy my body has kept me going all these years,” said Federer.
“You have to make sure you average is as high as possible every day and I think I’m doing a great job this week.”
Raonic might have had the 225km/h serve in his locker, but Federer owns a magic wand that he used to make the world’s sixth best player look like a lumbering also-ran.
It was hard not to feel sorry for Raonic at times.
Usually when a player is taking the kind of beating Federer was handing out, the crowd throw their weight behind the underdog.
That rule does not apply when it is Federer, king of Wimbledon, inflicting the punishment in the silky manner only the 18-times grand slam champion is capable of.
When, to his immense credit, Raonic finally began to threaten in the third set, going 3-0 up in the tiebreak, it was Federer they were cheering for.
When he responded with two majestic forehands, one apparently defying physics as it curled around the net post, they were in raptures in the stands and former great Rod Laver smiled in admiration from the Royal Box.
“I was sort of moving on, let’s see if he can do it again. He kept doing it,” Raonic told reporters.
“He kept a very high gear the entire time without giving many real glimpses.
“I think that was the most defeating thing.” – Reuters