Now it’s final number 12 for fantastic Federer, 37
Federer outpunches old foe in rematch of 2008 classic
HE waited 11 years for a rematch – but Roger Federer finally got his revenge over Rafa Nadal yesterday.
Meeting his Spanish rival at SW19 for the first time since their 2008 epic, Federer triumphed in four sets to secure a 12th Wimbledon final.
Tickets were changing hands for more than £15,000 each before the match and, with Nadal and Federer aged 33 and 37 respectively, there may not be many more chances to see them face off here again.
Sir David Attenborough, David Beckham, Chris Evans and Pippa Middleton were among the lucky 15,000 watching on Centre Court as the Swiss swept to victory.
None were quite so gripped as his wife, Mirka – who found herself unable to watch at times. Having bitten her nails with worry from the sidelines, Mrs Federer wept with joy as her husband booked his place in tomorrow’s final against Novak Djokovic. Beckham was seen mouthing ‘unbelievable’ from the Royal Box.
The victor lifted his racket to the skies after clinching match point in front of a rapturous crowd. Federer, who will be the oldest male finalist at SW19 since the 39-yearold Ken Rosewall in 1974, said it would be a ‘joy to play’ Djokovic for a chance to win a record ninth Wimbledon title.
His Serbian opponent beat Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut in the day’s first semi-final. Agut’s run to the final four was so unexpected that it clashed with his stag do, which had been due to take place in Ibiza during the second week of the tournament.
Seven members of the party took seats in the players’ box, having flown to London hours earlier. They were perched behind his fiancee, who had cancelled her dress fitting to attend.
One of Agut’s friends said: ‘We changed our flights... of course, we can still celebrate either way. It’s a good tournament for him. We’d rather be here than in Ibiza, completely sure about that.’
The popularity of yesterday’s matches even saw spectators turned away from Henman Hill. Stewards were only allowing those with friends or family already there to go through to the packed viewing area.
The crush wasn’t bad news for everyone, however. Local children have been making £40 a day by selling refreshments outside the grounds. The young entrepreneurs have set up makeshift stalls selling flapjacks, fizzy drinks and water for £ 1 each to take advantage of parched visitors to SW19.
Over the course of the tournament, they could make over £500 for just two weeks’ work at the beginning of their school holidays.
One told how his parents paid him and two siblings £5 an hour to sell homemade cakes outside their house to spectators.
For years, locals have made the most of the hundreds of thousands of visitors to Wimbledon by renting out parking spaces for £30 a time. With makeshift signs advertising the service, wealthy homeowners who can fit more than three cars on their driveways can earn more than £1,000 across the fortnight.
Coco Gauff, the shining new star of Wimbledon, was not even born when Roger federer won his first title here in 2003.
Now, an astonishing 16 years on from that triumph, he will go for a ninth championship after beating Rafael Nadal 7-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
federer is nearly 38, but still he is scaling the heights. Tomorrow he renews hostilities with Novak Djokovic after an astonishing display which saw him hold his nerve in a climax that had shades of their classic final of 2008.
five match points were needed and a break point was saved at the death, when he came out to serve for the match at 5- 4 in the fourth. a standing ovation accompanied their joint departure from the court.
Not only had he dominated coming forward, but he used his forehand to outpunch Nadal from the back of the court, winning 45 out of 76 points that lasted five strokes or more.
federer pronounced it one of his most satisfying moments. ‘This ranks extremely high,’ he said. ‘It’s always special to play Rafa and it lived up to the hype, everything before and that crazy last game. I’m relieved it’s over but it will go down as one of my favourite matches.
‘There are no draws in our sport, so it can be brutal sometimes. Good things happen when you try to do the right thing.’
Incredibly, federer and Serena Williams are back in the finals, as in 2003. ‘It’s a bit strange and very special for both of us,’ he said. ‘It’s not something I expected. The stars are aligned now.’
Nadal outlined the enduring difficulty of playing federer, saying: ‘He is always able to make the most difficult things look easy. He puts pressure on you all the time because he has the ability to take the ball earlier than anyone else. He doesn’t give you time to open up the court. It’s great to be part of this rivalry among three players. It will be difficult to see it again, but we are not done.’
He was referring to the bigger war at play in these battles over Wimbledon’s closing stages, that of who can bag the all-time Grand Slam winners tally. Nadal will be left on 18, while federer will go to 21 or Djokovic will head up to 16.
While people had been waiting 11 years for this rematch on centre court after the great 2008 final, it felt somewhat like Wimbledon 2019 had been waiting 11 days for the men’s event to begin.
Such has been the hegemony of the big three that this fixture had been marked down since the draw was made two weeks previously, and now here it was on a sunlit but breezy main arena. Sometimes it seems as though the men’s game has been preserved in aspic since the mid- to late 2000s. Many fans would not complain too much about that, and while federer and Nadal may have slightly thinner hair, they have not changed a vast amount.
The clearest superficial difference from that famous night in 2008, when Nadal won at 9.15pm, is that the Spaniard was then wearing a sleeveless shirt and shorts so long they were almost like pantaloons. While his shorts may have shrunk, his serve has grown a lot since, and the first seven games were in huge contrast to the first semi-final, without a rally in sight as each man dominated off his own delivery.
The tiebreak went initially in Nadal’s favour but at 2-3 the Swiss electrified his returns and, when he thumped a forehand down the court to take it 7-3, the crowd, which had been far more balanced than for the Djokovic match, rose to acclaim him. Dropping serve at 1-2 in the second set changed the momentum completely and, once he had been broken to love in the next game, federer did not so much lose the second set as resign from it.
It seemed to do the trick as he began the third much like the first. using his forehand to dictate, he forced a break point and took it after a stunning duel at the net, which ended with him planting a high backhand volley right on to the sideline for a winner.
Nadal was standing so far back, he almost had his back to the racing-green canvas and he forced three break points in a lungbusting fourth game, which federer saved, amid gasps from the crowd, by refusing to yield from the baseline. one exchange involved 25 blows.
a feature of the set was that federer was winning the vast majority of rallies lasting five strokes or more, horribly unfamiliar for the king of the baseline. federer could have given himself a double-break cushion in the sixth game but Nadal fended off two more break opportunities.
after breaking for 2-1, the last game, with Nadal refusing to yield and federer wobbling, was almost like a condensed version of the 2008 drama, except the outcome was different this time.
Retired champions often admit that the nerve frays with age and greater self-awareness. Not so for federer, who showed again that he is not like other men.