@SportsHorn
Roger Federer showed once again why he is the best player in Men’s tennis in 2017. The seven-time Wimbledon Champion moved into his 12th semi-final at the All England Club with a dominant 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) victory over No. 6 seed Milos Raonic on Wednesday. He also got revenge for his semi-final loss in five sets to Raonic on Centre Court a year ago.
Federer played some ridiculous tennis from the start of the match. He won the first two sets in less than an hour, winning all but two points on his first serve. He had 27 winners and just three errors and never faced a break point. It was a remarkable display of tennis from the 35-year old who looked like the 25-year old Federer who was also dominating the sport at the time.
Federer looked sharp mentally and physically picking away at Raonic’s serve, one of the best in the game, from the third game of the match onwards. Raonic was averaging 134 miles per hour with his first serve but the 18-time Grand Slam champion found ways to get the ball back and create opportunities. Federer’s first break came in the fifth game after an impressive running forehand headed straight towards his opponent. It caused Raonic to duck away and landed inside the baseline. From there Federer held serve at Love twice and then fired one of his 11 aces to take the opening set in 31 minutes.
In the second set Federer got right after the Raonic serve early on. With the Canadian at the net, Federer hit a forehand passing shot and then watched as Raonic made a crosscourt mistake on the following point giving the Swiss star an early break. At one point up 3-1, Federer had lost just one point on his first serve. Raonic was broken again in the next game and suddenly Federer’s chances at moving closer to an eighth Wimbledon crown and his first since 2012, were growing.
Raonic didn’t play poorly in the first two sets, a 73 percent first service percentage a prime example of that, but he did seem to raise his level of play in the third. Raonic began coming to the net more frequently as he mixed in some serve and volley tactics. His 23 approaches to net were just four less than his net play in the first two sets combined.
Raonic held serve throughout the set and wasn’t fending off break points against him. Instead he was finally getting to Federer’s serve. His first break chance of the match came in the second game but three big serves squashed that opportunity. The 26-year old who lost to Andy Murray in last years Wimbledon final, had four more chances to break Federer in the eighth game but it wasn’t to be.
A tiebreak was needed to decide the third set and Raonic got off to a great start going up 3-0 capped by a nice forehand winner down the line. However, in true Federer fashion, he rattled off seven of the final eight points in the tiebreak including some exquisite shot making which had Raonic shaking his head in disbelief. The highlight a Federer forehand winner down the line which snuck in just inside the paint.
After an hour and 58 minutes and a Raonic backhand mistake, victory belonged to Federer.
“He’s moving well. I think the thing I was most impressed with, at least the years I’ve been on tour, he was extremely sharp mentally always in the right moments,” said Raonic. “He kept a very high gear the whole entire time without giving many real glimpses. I think that was the most sort of defeating thing. Could I have been a bit more efficient at the net, a few volleys? Yes. But he kept the pressure on me. He was doing great things to keep pressure on me all the time.”
“I’m much better prepared for Wimbledon this year than last year,” said Federer, now 89-11 all-time on the Wimbledon grass. “Last year I had a hard, hard time practicing through the clay court season. The grass court season was difficult because of the back issues I had, and the knee issues. I was really lacking practice really. Then the matches, I could never really play quite so freely last year just because, you know, I’m more focused on how the knee’s behaving rather than how I need to hit my forehand or backhand, or what’s not going to be good for my opponent. This year I’m just a normal tennis player again where I can focus on tactics. I think that’s the difference. I’m playing very well. I’m rested. I’m fresh. I’m confident, too. Then great things do happen. Confidence is a huge thing.”
Now with a 29-2 match record this year including four titles, Federer finished with an astounding margin of 46 winners and just nine errors. He only dropped five points on his first serve.
He now faces Tomas Berdych in the semi-finals. Berdych advanced after Novak Djokovic was forced to retire in the second set of their quarter-final with a nagging elbow injury which had increased throughout the week. Federer is 16-8 all-time against his good friend and he has won the last seven matches between them, most recently at this years Australian Open.
“Being the favorite or not the favorite doesn’t matter,” said Federer. “These other guys are all big hitters. I feel like they will have their word to say of the outcome of the matches. They’ve got big serves, big forehands, big hitters really. All three guys are taller and stronger than I am. I got to figure out a different way, carve my way through the draw somehow with my slice and my spins, my consistency maybe. I’m looking forward to do that.”
