Despite being the shortest of the four semifinalists, Roger Federer is the favourite to capture the Wimbledon title for the 8th time in his legendary career. Roger is the only member of the Fab Four in the semifinals. At Roland Garros in 2009, he won the tournament in a very similar scenario.
WIMBLEDON – Wednesday was a big day for Roger Federer, who is now the overwhelming favourite to win at Church Road for the 8th time and capture his Grand Slam title No. 19. At 35 years and 11 months old, Roger is playing better than ever, while his biggest rivals were all sent home in surprising fashion during the last three days of competition. After Nadal’s upset on Monday, quarter-finals day saw the incredible eliminations of world No. 1 Andy Murray and No. 2 Novak Djokovic. The Scot and the Serb had won The Championships in the last two years.
Playing in his 100th match at Wimbledon, Federer avenged last year’s loss to Milos Raonic of Canada with a convincing 6-4,6-2,7-6 win in less than two hours. On Friday, the Swiss superstar will compete in his 42nd Grand Slam semifinal. Both Djokovic and Murray suffered from physical issues that sabotaged their hopes for another Wimbledon title. In his match against Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, Djokovic was forced to retire with an elbow injury that prevented him from serving at his usual speed. The Serb was down 7-6,2-0 when he threw in the towel. “It didn’t make any sense to continue the match and aggravate the situation,” Novak said in his post-match press conference. Standing at 6’5”, Berdych is hoping to repeat the extraordinary performance that he produced in 2010 when he upset Federer in a Wimbledon classic: “When I lost to Roger in Australia at the beginning of the season, I thought that I had never seen him play so well! But then when I played him again in Miami, I lost a very close match during which I also had a match point. Every match is a different story,” claimed the Czech.
In the first quarter-final of the day, Sam Querrey defeated Andy Murray, who was visibly hampered by a hip injury that might force the Scot to undergo surgery. 3-6,6-4,6-7,6-1,6-1, was the final score in favour of the American, who closed the match in 2 hours and 42 minutes. With 126 aces in 5 matches, the 6’6” giant from California has been the biggest server in the tournament so far. During Murray’s post-match press conference, a reporter mentioned how Querrey is the first American to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon since Roddick in 2009. Murray’s reply was as candid as usual: “American… man!” Andy clearly hinted that Serena Williams reached the semifinals or better multiple times in the last many years.
Federer, who is 6’1”, joked about his age and height: “I am the oldest player left in the competition and the shortest as well. It is not true that the grass is slower than usual this year. All of my opponents are big servers and have huge forehands. I probably have a little more variety.”
Here is a summary of Roger Federer’s stats:
100 matches played at Wimbledon
He will contest his 101st against Berdych in the semifinals
Record: Jimmy Connors with 102 matches
ROGER FEDERER at WIMBLEDON: 89 wins – 11 losses
1st match: June 22, 1999 Lost to Jiri Novak 6-3 3-6 4-6 6-3 6-4 in the first round
100th match: July 12, 2017 Won against Milos Raonic 6-4 6-2 7-6 in the quarterfinals
1st win: June 25, 2001 Won against Christophe Rochus 6-2 6-3 6-2 in the first round
STATS BY COURT
80 matches on Centre Court (71-9)
13 matches on Court No. 1 (12-1)
4 matches on Court No. 2 (4-0)
1 match on Court No. 6 (0-1)
2 matches on Court No. 13 (2-0)
STATS BY OPPONENT
75 different players
4 matches vs Andy Roddick
3 matches vs Mario Ancic, Novak Djokovic, Lleyton Hewitt, Rafael Nadal, Milos Raonic and Tomas Berdych (next round)
GENERAL STATS
1264 aces
163 double faults
1570 service games won
110 service games lost
4404 winners
1754 unforced errors
1221 serve & volley points won
2308 net points won
11288 total points won
TIME SPENT ON COURT
In hours: 202 hours 41 minutes
In days: 8 days, 10 hours, 41 minutes
(Article translation provided by T&L Global – Translation & Language Solutions – www.t-lglobal.com )
