FedFact: ton up. Roger Federer has written his latest chapter of tennis history. Roaring back from a set down in his quarter-final, he saw off Kei Nishikori 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 36 minutes to become (FedFact) the first man ever to capture 100 match wins at a single Grand Slam. It means he has reached (FedFact) a record 13th semi-final at The Championships, and become (FedFact) the oldest man to make the last four at a Grand Slam in 28 years.
“I wasn’t thinking of the 100th win in the moment that I won, but then a fan said it as I was signing autographs and I thought ‘oh yeah, that’s right!’” Federer told the BBC as he came off the Centre Court. “It’s a sweet way to do it. The beginning was brutal. Kei was smashing return winners and I had to make adjustments to stay with him, but he was the better player. It was really important to get the lead in the second set and protect it, to start more of a normal match. At the end I was serving really well against a great return player. I’m very happy.”
ObscureFedFact: in all his 21 visits to The Championships, Federer had never previously faced a Japanese player. Victory counts as a particularly good omen, as Nishikori has fallen to the eventual title-winner in each of his last four Grand Slams. But a Swiss victory seemed a long way off in the first set, when the No.7 seed ran Federer ragged to snatch an immediate break. Nishikori was all over him, taking seven of the opening eight points and then 11 of the first 14.
“I’m a big fan of Kei’s game,” announced the Swiss in anticipation of this match. But on the sharp end of Nishikori’s trademark shotmaking, Federer wore the expression of one tasting something particularly nasty. He couldn’t take a chance to level for 3-3, and although there were encouraging signs for him – a gorgeous backhand return down the line, for example – he couldn’t claw back the early disadvantage.
Yet just like that, he just put it behind him in the second chapter. Anyone who thought the vaguely out-of-sorts Federer of last week might be re-emerging here was rapidly put right as the eight-time champion drove over Nishikori’s serve with a tank, securing the break with a delicious forehand. Having looted five break points in the opening set, the No.7 seed couldn’t get a sniff of one in the second. FedFact: nine winners and one error told their own story.
But Federer was not yet firmly in charge. After all, while the Swiss led their previous career jousts 7-3, Nishikori pillaged their most recent meeting in straight sets at the ATP Finals last November. In the third stanza here, Nishikori’s inventiveness was still much in evidence, but at 3-4 on serve, chances were stacking up against him. On the fourth time of asking, a ball that Nishikori seemed to think was going out changed its mind and plopped in. The drama wasn’t done yet, nor Nishikori either. He slammed a thundering forehand return from out wide for a point to level, but he couldn’t convert it.
One year ago Kevin Anderson famously came back from two sets down to torpedo the Swiss at this quarter-final stage, but this time the semi-final was in Federer’s crosshairs. While Nishikori toiled on every service game in the fourth set, his opponent breezed along. The quality and resourcefulness of the Japanese rarely faltered, but six break points ultimately wore him down, and he sent a forehand long for 4-5. Federer punched out victory with a second serve ace.
With the Swiss now long-established as the grass GOAT (Greatest Of All Time, as any fule kno), a new Federer-specific acronym is called for hereabouts. The use of EARHAH should surely save a lot of time on the endless occasions when he has Extended A Record He Already Held. On this occasion, EARHAH applied to (FedFact) match wins by any man at a Grand Slam; Grand Slam match wins by any player (352); Grand Slams contested (77); Wimbledon quarter-finals (17); Grand Slam quarter-finals (55); Wimbledon semi-finals (13); Grand Slam semi-finals (45); and probably more.
You might think he owns enough records to be going on with, yet he remains greedy. FedFact: his 12 aces against Nishikori leave him a scant seven shy of Goran Ivanisevic’s 1,397 here.
Of course, all the above is mere set dressing to Federer. With his 38th birthday less than a month away, what he really wants is to become (FedFact) the first man to win nine titles here, EARHAH. One hundred Wimbledon match wins is a pretty number, but 102 is what it’s really about. For Federer, that’s the only fact in town.
