Roger Federer last night thanked Wimbledon organisers for allowing him to play every match at this year’s tournament on his favourite terrain and the man who has won more Grand Slam tournaments than any other is revelling in the prospect of one more outing on Centre Court.
Even before he makes his bid to separate himself from Pete Sampras and William Renshaw, the most successful male player in tennis history has set new standards at this year’s tournament, by becoming the first man to earn the right to contest an 11th final at the same Grand Slam and he is aiming to extend his Grand Slam record to 19 victories when he meets Marin Cilic in the final.
“It makes me really happy, marking history here at Wimbledon,” he said, after beating Tomas Berdych in straight sets in their semi-final.
“It’s a big deal. I love this tournament. All my dreams came true here as a player. To have another chance to go for number eight now, be kind of so close now at this stage, is a great feeling. I’m unbelievably excited. I hope I can play one more good match. Eleven finals here, all these records, it’s great, but it doesn’t give me the title quite yet. That’s why I came here this year. I’m so close now, so I just got to stay focused.”
It is, however, five frustrating years for the Swiss maestro since he won this tournament, his last two appearances in the final since beating Andy Murray on an emotional occasion all round in 2012, having ended in defeat to Novak Djokovic in 2104 and 2015. However the 2017 version of Federer has been as impressive as at any stage in his career, his six wins to date having been accomplished in less than 10 hours on court.
“I feel I’m ready for it. I’ve played good matches here since my win here in 2012. I played great ‘14, ‘15 and I’m happy I’m up to that level again. Because I’ve done so well here, you know, grass comes so natural to me, I don’t know, I’m just very pleased to be back here. It sounds like the gap is huge, but I don’t feel like it’s that long ago. 2003 (the year of his first Wimbledon triumph) feels like ages ago, because of the ponytail, the beard, whatever, you name it. This one is different. I kind of looked the same back in 2012, or at least I hope so,” he said.
He also admitted that it would be a pleasant change not to be facing one of the other members of the ‘big four’ with whom he has dominated the sport for the past 12 years.
“Thank God I’ve played also guys who were not called Rafa, Andy or Novak in the past, like Baghdatis and Gonzales and others,” he observed.
“From that standpoint I don’t want to say it’s more relaxed going into it because I have a good head to head record against Marin, even though the matches were extremely close, but it’s not like we’ve played against each other 30 times and you feel like you have to reinvent the wheel. It’s more straightforward, in my opinion. I think that’s nice in some ways. It’s a nice change, but it doesn’t make things easier.”
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