After beating almost every possible record in tennis history, Roger Federer continues to add more incredible milestones to his legendary career. Roger and Venus are the favorites to win the finals, but hopefully we will witness two exciting matches after a fairly mediocre tournament.
WIMBLEDON – This year The Championships haven’t offered any memorable matches so far, but both the men’s and women’s finals should provide great entertainment. The men’s tournament will have the best possible final after the early eliminations of three members of the Fab Four, while the women’s event will technically feature the most interesting grass court matchup. The highest ranked female players – Kerber, Halep, Pliskova and Svitolina – are certainly not grass court specialists, unlike the two finalists or Petra Kvitova at her best.
The fans and the media in general always remember certain tournaments for their great finals, so let’s hope that the tennis will be of the highest quality this weekend. This year’s Wimbledon hasn’t featured any extraordinary matches with Roger Federer dominating almost every opponent.
Except for Croatian and Spanish fans, almost the entire world will be cheering for the two sentimental favorites: Roger Federer (35 years and 342 days old) and Venus Williams (37 years and 28 days old). If both legends pulled off the incredible achievement of winning Wimbledon at this stage of their careers, it would be an extraordinary occasion that will make The Championships No. 131 a tournament for the ages.
Venus and Muguruza have never faced each other on grass. Three of their matches were played a long time ago, before Garbine grew into one the brightest stars in women’s tennis. Their most recent encounter took place on the clay courts in Rome and was won by the Spaniard in three sets. Clay has never been Venus’ best surface and, despite the win, Muguruza wasn’t nearly playing at her best during the Spring.
Roger has absolutely dominated his opposition in the tournament so far and reached the final without dropping a set for the third time in his career. The last two times were in 2006 and 2008. The Swiss leads the head-to-head against the Croatian 6-1, which makes Roger the overwhelming favorite to capture the title.
On the other hand, it is important to mention that in 2014 Cilic got the best of Roger in a famous US Open semifinal that the Croatian dominated 6-4,6-4,6-3. At Wimbledon, last year Cilic had three match points against Roger in a five-set quarterfinal match that saw the Swiss prevail 6-7(4),4-6,6-3,7-6(9),6-3. Another recent clash occurred at the 2014 Canadian Open when Federer won 7-6,6-7,6-4.
Cilic will probably have nothing to lose on Sunday, while Federer might feel the pressure of his last chance at winning Wimbledon for the 8th time. Roger is a legend capable of many miracles, but next year he will be 37 years of age. Therefore, it should be much more difficult for him to capture such a big tournament again.
Cilic – who reached three consecutive quarterfinals in this tournament between 2014 and 2016 losing twice to Djokovic and once to Federer – will be the first Croatian to compete in the championship match since Goran Ivanisevic in 2001. This year he had an excellent grass court season by reaching the final at Queen’s and the semifinals in Hertogenbosch.
Federer’s records are now coming thick and fast. He is the first man to have reached 11 finals in the same Grand Slam tournament, surpassing Rafael Nadal who played 10 French Open finals. Ivan Lendl played 8 finals at the US Open, while Pete Sampras, Arthur Gore and Boris Becker competed in 7 Wimbledon finals.
Sunday’s final will be Roger’s 102nd match played at Wimbledon, equaling Jimmy Connors’ record. With title No. 8, Roger could surpass Willie Renshaw’s and Pete Sampras’ record at 7 becoming the most decorated Wimbledon champion in history.
So far Roger hasn’t dropped a set throughout the event. Since 1922, only four players have captured the title without dropping a set: Don Budge (1938), Tony Trabert (1955), Chuck McKinley (1963) and Bjorn Borg (1976). At 35 years and 342 days of age, Roger could also become the oldest champion in Wimbledon history, surpassing Arthur Ashe who won in 1975 at 31 years and 360 days old.
(Article translation provided by T&L Global – Translation & Language Solutions – www.t-lglobal.com )
