Roger raring to go for title No 8

WRITTEN OFF, HE IS NOW THE FAVOURITE Defending champ Murray is exhibiting a few cracks.

Twelve months after shutting down his season in the wake of a devastating semifinal defeat, Roger Federer returns to Wimbledon as favourite to capture a record-breaking eighth title and become the tournament’s oldest champion.

The evergreen Swiss superstar, who turns 36 in August, has stunned the critics who wrote him off as yesterday’s man when he went down to Milos Raonic in five gruelling sets in 2016.

The loss forced him off tour for the remainder of the year to rest a knee injury, leaving his Grand Slam title count on 17 where it had been since 2012.

Fast forward a year and Federer is poised to break the tie for seven Wimbledon titles he shares with Pete Sampras and take his career tally at the majors to 19.

With eternal rivals Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic in slumps of varying lengths and degrees of seriousness, and Rafael Nadal fretting over whether or not his knees will bear the stress of grass courts, Federer is in the box seat.

Federer, who captured a fifth Australian Open in January, will go into Wimbledon buoyed by a ninth title on the grass of Halle.

His final demolition of Alexander Zverev, 15 years his junior and a player seen as his natural heir, came just a week after he marked his return from a 10-week break by losing in the first round in Stuttgart.

It was his first defeat in an opening round on grass since his shock loss to Mario Ancic at Wimbledon in 2002.

For Nadal, Wimbledon has always been bittersweet.

He was champion in 2008 – where he beat Federer in a final widely regarded as the greatest ever played – and 2010 as well as finishing runner-up in 2006, 2007 and 2011.

Injury forced him to skip Wimbledon in 2009 and 2016 while the years 2012-2015 saw him lose to Lukas Rosol (No 100), Steve Darcis (135), Nick Kyrgios (144) and Dustin Brown (102).

Defending champion Murray is fresh off a first-round exit at Queen’s at the hands of Australian world No 90 Jordan Thompson.

The world No 1, who was also Wimbledon champion in 2013, has failed to get past the second round in three of his last four tournaments.

Short of grass court exposure, Murray headed to the luxurious surroundings of the Hurlingham Club in west London for an exhibition tournament.

Equally desperate for game time is Djokovic, the three-time Wimbledon champion who travelled to Eastbourne hoping the sea air might breathe life into a career which appears to be in freefall. – AFP