STROLL ON! LIFE IS EASY FOR BIG TWO
Federer v Nadal final moves closer
Foreign Secretaries may resign, heatwaves strike and england’s football team whip the nation into a frenzy. Yet amid the chaos there is one bulwark of predictability in a stormy english summer — roger Federer is in the last eight at Wimbledon.
it has been this way since 2003 with one exception — when his back was playing up five years ago — and will be so again tomorrow when he takes on South African Kevin Anderson.
The traditional bumper Monday fourth-round programme turned out to be about as manic as Wimbledon Village High Street on a wet Tuesday night in February.
The parade of the greats passed without incident as Federer won in straight sets, followed by Serena Williams and rafael nadal.
The world seemed to be rotating smoothly on its axis, although the sense of stability offered by the Spaniard at SW19 is more illusory. This is actually the first time he has made the last eight here since 2011.
great as these champions are, you are also entitled to wonder how it is that they are able to reach such an advanced stage at grand Slams without anyone laying a glove on them. Their aggregate age is 94, but they have not lost a set between them.
Federer won 6-0, 7-5, 6-4 against Adrian Mannarino. it is no accident that the Frenchman is ranked 26 in the world, he has great feel for the ball and makes it awkward for opponents with his languid, short backswing.
Yet he gave the great Swiss a whole set’s start, winning only five points in a 16-minute opener. only after saving break points early in the second did he start to play.
Perhaps too much respect is granted to the likes of Federer by the lower orders. As one hoary ex-pro remarked yesterday: ‘if social media was around in my day i wouldn’t have been going on it, saying what an honour it was to share the court with them after i’d lost.’
That does happen and while Mannarino did not quite go as far, he later used Twitter to congratulate the great Swiss and wish him the best for the tournament.
Federer is a sharp student of the game and afterwards revealed that even he is taken aback by the ease with which he has been able to progress at times.
‘i told my team the other day that for me also, after all these years, it is surprising to be the no 1 seed in the top two rankings at 36,’ he said. ‘i didn’t think that was ever going to happen, to be honest.
‘i think it’s a tough match-up for him maybe against me but, sure, i was also surprised it was that fast, that first set, 16 minutes.
‘ That was too fast. Shouldn’t really happen, but thankfully they do for me.
‘i probably won’t have another 6-0 set this week, so i’ll enjoy this one. Then he showed that he is top 30 after all and he played two good sets.’
Mannarino’s triumph was to force the first four break points that the Swiss has faced in four rounds.
So relaxed was Federer afterwards that he was happy to josh about the inevitable question of the men’s singles final clashing with that of the football World Cup.
‘i’m more concerned the World Cup final will have issues because the Wimbledon final is going on. They’ll hear every point, Wow, Love-15, 15-30. The players are going to look up in the crowd and not understand what’s going on at Wimbledon.
‘Maybe you should ask the questions over in russia, how they’re going to feel about Wimbledon being played at the same time.’
While not one for false modesty, you assume he was joking.
There appears to be every chance of it being a nadal-Federer affair, with the Spaniard again making hay in the sunshine — this time against hulking Czech left-hander Jiri Vesely.
nadal only dropped serve once in winning 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 and his use of the skidding, backhand slice was a reminder of what a supremely high- class player he is on this surface.
This day last year he was losing 15-13 in a deciding set to another big left-hander, gilles Muller, but it never came close to a repeat yesterday.
While many will hope for another championship match between him and Federer, nadal is not among them.
‘Facing roger again would be something fantastic, but if you ask me if i prefer another one, i say yes. That’s smart, no?’ he reasoned. ‘The overall goal is to try to win the tournament and it depends on who you play whether you have less or more chances to win.’