There’s a decidedly noughties feel about The Championships in 2017.
You have to turn back the clock to 2009 for the last time Venus Williams reached the ladies’ singles final, or the sight of an American man among the final four at SW19. Not since 2005 have Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic all missed out on the Wimbledon semi-finals. And Roger Federer, yet again, appears to be the man to beat.
The 18-time Grand Slam champion’s evergreen 2017 continues to defy Father Time and astound onlookers, from across the net and in the stands. Since returning from his six-month sabbatical after last year’s Championships, Federer has won a fifth Australian Open, compiled a 29-2 record – including an 8-0 run against top-10 opponents – and hit the 10,000th ace of his career.
He has reached his 12th Wimbledon semi-final without dropping a set, something he last achieved in 2008, booking his spot in the final four with a satisfying victory over Milos Raonic a year after falling – quite literally – against the Canadian in the semis. Can anyone stop the seven-time champion from going one better than William Renshaw and Pete Sampras and claiming the Gentlemen's Singles Trophy for an eighth time?
Two matches and three men stand in his way: semi-final opponent Tomas Berdych, and either Sam Querrey or Marin Cilic in the final. Of that trio, two have subjected Federer to Grand Slam defeats – something only 17 men have done since his first Grand Slam triumph at the All England Club in 2003.
On Friday, Berdych takes on Federer for a place in his second Wimbledon final on the line. The Czech’s head-to-head record with Federer makes for tough reading – he trails 18-6, while it is over four years since he beat the 35-year-old in Dubai back in 2013. But Berdych has beaten Federer on Centre Court, coming through their quarter-final showdown in 2010 en route to the final.
Berdych’s 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory was a stunning moment for both Federer and the sport; it was the first time he hadn’t reached the final at Wimbledon since 2002. Federer later revealed he had been nursing back and thigh injuries picked up on the eve of The Championships in Halle.
“I don't think I played poorly but he went after it,” Federer said afterwards. “I was not able to defend well enough and he played well when he had to – it was brutal for me. Every time he had a chance, he took it.”
Berdych, who also beat Federer at the same stage of the 2012 US Open, will need something similar on Centre Court on Friday if he is to end a run of seven consecutive defeats against the Swiss, including a comprehensive loss in the third round of this year’s Australian Open. But having seen two match points come and go in the final-set tie-break of their latest meeting at the Miami Open, the No.11 seed knows what it takes to push Federer all the way.
Should Federer reach the final, Cilic may well lie in wait, seeking his second Grand Slam title having beaten the No.5 seed en route to his first. Federer had never lost to the Croatian before their 2014 US Open showdown, but Cilic was in irresistible form that year in New York, swatting the Swiss aside in straight sets before beating Kei Nishikori for his first major triumph.
Like Federer with Raonic, Cilic also has a score to settle after last year’s Championships. The Croatian led Federer by two sets to love and had three match points in the fourth set of their quarter-final clash before falling 6-7(4), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(9), 6-3. It was to be Federer’s final win of 2016, considered by many to be the match of the season.
“Today was epic,” Federer said. “Probably going to look back at this as being a great, great match I played in my career. To win a match like this, to test the body, to be out there again, fighting, being in a physical battle and winning. It’s an unbelievable feeling.”
After a solid grass court campaign, Cilic has gone further before at the All England Club than ever before, and will go into his semi-final with No.24 seed Querrey as the favourite. Should the American pull off the upset and reach his first Grand Slam final, the odds will be even longer for him should Federer lie in wait.
Querrey has never won a set against the Swiss, losing their last encounter in the second round at The Championships two years ago. In eight sets, he has broken Federer’s serve just once. But in the past two years he has been responsible for ending the Wimbledon campaigns of the defending champions and world No.1s – Djokovic in 2016, and Murray in this year’s quarter-finals.
Querrey-Federer would certainly end The Championships on a distinctly noughties note – three times Federer faced a big-serving American in the final in the form of Andy Roddick, the last of which ended 16-14 in the final set in 2009. History repeating? Now wouldn’t that be something…