Four men remain, but only one of those expected and his presence now dominates this Wimbledon.
Already widely considered to be the greatest tennis player of all time, the path seems to have been cleared for Roger Federer to have the best possible opportunity to stand alone in terms of victories in its most eulogised championship with the elimination, in rapid succession, of the three great rivals who were the only others in the initial draw to have experienced victory here.
Such has been the dominance of that quartet this past 12 years - a combined accrual of 46 titles in the sport’s 52 most prized events - that only three others have claimed victories in any Grand Slam tournament or Olympic Games, . The absence of Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, also the only other men to have attained world number one ranking in that period, would suggest Federer, on his favourite surface, cannot fail to win this title. Not least because of the reminders offered by their departures, however, no-one knows better than Federer that letting himself think that way is the greatest danger to his chances. He was consequently quick to point out, on easing through his quarter-final against Milos Raonic, the Canadian who knocked him out last year, that all three of the other contenders, Marin Cilic, Sam Querrey and the man Federer now faces, Tomas Berdych, are all bigger and stronger than he is.
He has particular reason to be wary of his semi-final opponent because, for all that the player once ranked number four in the world is no longer the consistent threat he once was, Berdych has the temperament to cope with what confronts him as he demonstrated in 2010 when, in the quarter-finals, he ended Federer’s run of consecutive appearances in finals, seven in all, winning six of which he had won. Perhaps more than any other result, that turned deity into mere mortal, only two more of Federer’s men’s record 18 Grand Slam wins having been registered in the ensuing seven years.
Nor will it be done and dusted should the revitalised veteran come through his semi-final because if he does he is almost certain to meet in the final the brooding Marin Cilic, along with Juan-Marin del Potro and Stan Wawrinka, one of that trio of others who have gate crashed ‘big four’ parties in the past decade and whose gifts are accentuated on grass much as those of his flamboyant fellow Croat Goran Ivanisevic once were. Cilic who, on the way to his lone Grand Slam victory at the US Open three years ago, thrashed Federer in three sets in the semi-final, is expected to overwhelm first time Grand Slam semi-finalist Sam Querrey, but he, too, dismissed such notions.
“I still have a huge match in front of me and Roger has as well,” he said, when asked if he had allowed himself to think ahead to Sunday.
He drew encouragement, too, from Federer having predicted that he would go far in this tournament.
“From the other side, it’s great for me to hear that even him 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,” said Cilic. “That had given me a little bit more belief, a little bit more confidence that, you know, 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.”
The clever money would, then, be on a Federer – Cilic final, then, with Wimbledon’s favourite claiming the title that would separate him in statistics as well as style from Pete Sampras and William Renshaw. However those supposedly in the know have been parted from their cash too often at this Wimbledon for anything to be taken for granted.
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