Hand it to the Murrays
Andy to make commentating debut
Andy Murray will be back at Wimbledon today but behind the mic instead of on court. He will appear on TV with Sue Barker and Tim Henman today and return tomorow for men’s quarter-final day, where he will be part of the commentary team.
He wrote on Facebook: “Live in the BBC studio tomorrow with Tim Henman and trying my hand at commentary on Wednesday, what could possibly go wrong?”
Meanwhile, brother Jamie enjoyed double doubles success. In the men’s event, he and Bruno Soares beat British brothers Ken and Neal Skupski 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Murray then went on court with mixed doubles partner Victoria Azarenka and saw off Anna-lena Grönefeld and Robert Farah 7-6, 6-7, 7-5.
For the briefest of brief moments, Wimbledon shuddered. Roger Federer was facing a break point. It was the nearest thing to a threat he had been forced to deal with in SW19 this year.
Butdealwithithedidandthe sense of panic soon passed. He moved almost effortlessly passed Adrian Mannarino 6-0, 7-5, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals. Again.
In the past 15 years, he has only failed to get to the last eight once. Federer gliding serenely to the business end of Wimbledon is as traditional a part of the British summer as the Trooping of the Colour or the start of the grouse shooting season.
That break point came at 5-0 in a 16-minute opening set. Federer could barely miss a ball; Mannarino could barely find the court. Yet the Frenchman had his moment. And then Federer took it away from him. Charming and suave as he is, Federer does not do generosity, not on a tennis court.
Mannarino is no slouch, though. Ranked No.26 in the world, he gave Federer some bother in the Basel tournament last year – but ended up losing – and, sure enough, he pulled himself together, played a good deal better and made more of a match of it in the second and third sets.
He even had another three opportunities to break in the final set but could not make them count. The defending champion’s response was swift and telling: he fended off the break points, broke in the next game, served out to love and was home and hosed in an hour and 45 minutes.
So far, he has made it all look so routine: step on court, batter the opposition and then step in front of the TV cameras for another round of interviews with hardly a bead of perspiration on his brow. Federer is relaxed, he seems to feel no pressure and, ominously, he thinks there is plenty more to come.
“In practice at the moment, I’m not working on anything specific,” Federer said. “The goal is to win matches and not to be too creative right now. That’s going to happen naturally if I play well.”
That will fill his coming opponents with joy: he is playing well, winning easily and he has not even started to get creative yet. Yesterday’s result extended his winning streak to 32 consecutive sets – he has not dropped a set at Wimbledon since 2016. The way he is going, that run could have stretched to 41 sets by the time he leaves the All England Club with his ninth title zipped into his racket bag.
The assumption, then, is that Federer will motor calmly past anyone who is put in his path regardless of their size, ranking or reputation. His sat nav was set to the final from day one and he has not and will not deviate from the route laid out for him. Federer tends to inspire that sort of trust in his followers.
With six days and two more rounds to go before the final, the Swiss is already being asked if he is concerned that the final – his final – will clash with the World Cup final, particularly if England are playing. Surely the crowd would be torn between the two matches and that would ruin the atmosphere on Centre Court? Without missing a beat, totally deadpan and for the amusement of the assembled throng, the Great One gave his view.
“Well, it’s going to happen anyway,” he said. “If I’m going to be in the final or not, the Wimbledon final will take place and so will the World Cup final.
“I’m more concerned the World Cup final will have issues because the Wimbledon final is going on. They’ll hear every point, Wow, Love15, 15-30. The players are going to look up in the crowd and not understand what’s going on at Wimbledon. That’s how important Wimbledon is to me.”
So, not only does Federer make tennis look simple and winning look easy, now he makes jokes. And makes them in his second language (he speaks four in all). There is no stopping the man. At this rate, he will probably win the World Cup as well.