In addition to fighting for tennis’ ultimate prize in Sunday’s Wimbledon final, both Roger Federer and Marin Cilic will be playing for important rankings milestones.
Federer will, for the first time in almost 11 months, reclaim a place within the Top 3 of the Emirates ATP Rankings if he wins a record eighth title at SW19. But, more importantly, he will greatly boost his chances of returning to World No. 1 later this year after a remarkable comeback season. The Swiss slipped from No. 3 to No. 4 on 22 August last year and, after missing the remainder of the season after last year’s Wimbledon, slipped to as low as No. 17 before winning the Australian Open in January.
Federer has remained in the Top 10 ever since, but slipped from No. 4 to No. 5 in recent months after skipping the clay-court swing to rest his 35-year-old body.
Should he win his 19th Grand Slam title Sunday, Federer will turn up the heat on Rafael Nadal in what increasingly looks like a two-man battle for the coveted year-end No. 1 Emirates ATP Ranking. Federer would move to No. 3 within 920 points of Nadal and to within 1,205 points of current World No. 1 Andy Murray. (Murray appears to have only a very remote chance of finishing the year No. 1 because he has 5,460 points to defend after Wimbledon following his stunning finish to the end of the 2016 season. In contrast, Nadal will defend just 370 points and Federer has no points to defend for the rest of the season.)
Federer holds the record for most weeks (302) spent at No. 1. He last held top spot in the first week of November, 2012.
Learn How The Emirates ATP Rankings Work
Cilic is now at a career-high No. 6 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and will crack the Top 5 for the first time if he adds a second major to the US Open crown he won in 2014. Under that scenario, Federer would remain at No. 6.
Novak Djokovic will move ahead of Stan Wawrinka when the new rankings are released Monday. If Federer is the Wimbledon champion and leaps three places to No. 3, Djokovic will be remain at 4 while passing Wawrinka, who will slip to No. 5. Cilic will remain at No. 6. If Cilic wins the final, Djokovic will move to No. 3, Wawrinka will slip to No. 4 and Cilic will be No. 5.
Swiss star will play for eighth title at SW19
Following his Wimbledon semi-final loss last season and his six-month layoff last year, Roger Federer had to doubt if he’d ever return to the Wimbledon final. He doesn’t need to wonder any longer.
The seven-time champion will play in his 11th final at The Championships after overcoming some big hitting from Czech Tomas Berdych 7-6(4), 7-6(4), 6-4 on Friday during their semi-final. Federer still has not dropped a set at SW19 this fortnight and will be the favourite when he plays for his record eighth Wimbledon title and 19th Grand Slam crown on Sunday.
Federer will meet seventh seed Marin Cilic, who beat No. 24 seed Sam Querrey of the U.S. 7-6(6), 4-6, 7-6(3), 7-5 in Friday’s first semi-final. Cilic, the 2014 US Open titlist, reaches his second Grand Slam final.
Federer leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 6-1, including a 2016 Wimbledon quarter-final win. But the Croatian held three match points during that match and has beaten Federer in the latter stages of a Grand Slam. The 6’6″ right-hander upset Federer in the 2014 US Open semi-finals.
“I’m in for a tough one. We had a great one here last year. At the US Open, he played unreal there against me,” Federer said.
If Cilic celebrates his first Wimbledon crown, he’ll jump to No. 5 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on Monday when the new list is published. If Federer wins the title, he’ll rise to No. 3.
American aiming to capitalise on grass-court run
Sam Querrey expressed an inner-belief that his best tennis is around the corner on Friday following a semi-final exit to Marin Cilic at The Championships on Friday.
“Before I go for major titles, I need to take some baby steps before that,” said Querrey. “I do feel I can. I feel that if I play well, my level is at a high enough point where I can beat those top guys.”
The American is now looking for prolonged consistency having beaten the defending Wimbledon champions over the past two years – Novak Djokovic in the 2016 third round and Andy Murray in this year’s quarter-finals. He also beat Rafael Nadal in the Abierto Mexicano Telcel final in March.
“To have those three moments, where I really feel like I played well and beat a lot of good players, hopefully there’s more moments like that to come,” said Querrey. “I feel like I’ve really had some ups over the last year, and hopefully there are more of those to come as I get a little bit older.
“I really just [need to] commit to the style of play and be a little more aggressive. I think in the past maybe I haven’t done that. I seem to commit to that a little better here on the grass. I think if I just do that at the other Slams, I think it will be a little bit better.”
The 29-year-old Querrey insisted that it wasn’t the fatigue of three consecutive five-set wins that played a factor in his loss to Cilic in his first Grand Slam championship semi-final.
“I was actually more nervous against Andy in the quarter-finals. Today I felt pretty good. The first set we traded holds early. That really settled me… I didn’t really have any questions about myself going in. I knew I was a good tennis player. I felt like I had this in me. To do this has been fun. Hopefully I can do more of it.”
With the help of his coach Craig Boynton, the World No. 28 will also be hoping to move closer to his career-high of No. 17 in the Emirates ATP Rankings (31 January 2011) over the course of the hard-court U.S. summer circuit.
Watch some of the best shots as seven-time champion Roger Federer eases through to another Wimbledon final, beating Tomas Berdych 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4) 6-4.
Watch the best shots of the match as Heather Watson and Henri Kontinen beat Bruno Soares and Elena Vesnina to reach the Wimbledon mixed doubles final.
Martina Hingis and Jamie Murray win their match against Marcelo Demoliner and Martinez Sanchez to reach the mixed doubles final on Sunday.
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Roger Federer is one win from a historic eighth Wimbledon title after beating Czech 11th seed Tomas Berdych in straight sets in the semi-final.
The Swiss, 35, won 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 to reach his 11th Wimbledon final, having last won the title back in 2012.
He will face Croatia’s Marin Cilic after the seventh seed beat American 24th seed Sam Querrey 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 on Centre Court.
Cilic, 28, is into his second major final after winning the 2014 US Open.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Cilic, the second Croat to reach the men’s final after Goran Ivanisevic won in 2001.
“The way this tournament has unfolded I’ve been playing really great tennis.”
Federer has already added to his lengthy list of achievements by reaching a record 29th Grand Slam final, becoming the second-oldest man to do so after the 39-year-old Ken Rosewall reached the 1974 Wimbledon final.
Having waited five years to win his 18th major title at this year’s Australian Open, the Swiss could make it 19 just six months later.
Querrey, 29, had played three successive five-set matches to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final, and almost forced a fourth before Cilic finally saw off the American’s challenge.
Both men had more than 100 aces to their name heading into the semi-finals, and it was the Croat who had more success in breaking down the big serve.
Cilic won more than twice as many points on return and earned 14 break points to Querrey’s three, but the American saved 10 and was two service holds from taking it to a fifth set.
He edged the first set from 4-1 down in the tie-break before Cilic earned the first break of the match at 3-3 on his way to levelling at one set all.
The match was over two hours old before two loose shots from Querrey – a backhand error followed by a forehand into the net – separated the pair in the third set tie-break.
The pair’s previous meeting at Wimbledon in 2012 lasted over five hours and finished 17-15 to Cilic in the fifth set, and when a wayward Cilic smash helped Querrey move ahead in the fourth, another final set seemed inevitable.
However, Cilic played a fine game to level at 4-4 with a drop volley and an attacking return of serve, and avoided the need for a third tie-break when he earned two match points at 6-5 and found a forehand winner on the second.
“Sam was playing high-level tennis, especially in the first set,” added Cilic.
“I was 4-1 up in the tie-break and didn’t convert. After that I was better in the return games. I thought the level was really high.”
Croatian looks to become the first seventh seed to capture the Wimbledon trophy
Marin Cilic grit his teeth and battled to overcome a mental struggle on Friday at The Championships to move to within one match win of a second major trophy. The Croatian will look to emulate his former coach, 2001 wild-card champion Goran Ivanisevic, when he plays seven-time former titlist Roger Federer or 2010 runner-up Tomas Berdych for the sport’s ultimate prize.
Cilic, one of the cleanest hitters on the ATP World Tour, denied the United States its first finalist since Andy Roddick in 2009, when the seventh-seeded Croatian defeated No. 24 seed Sam Querrey 6-7(6), 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-5 in two hours and 56 minutes. It was their third meeting at the All England Club, which includes Cilic beating Querrey 7-6(6), 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-7(3), 17-15 in the 2013 Wimbledon third round.
The 28-year-old Cilic, with his coach Jonas Bjorkman, will now prepare for his first Wimbledon final on Sunday.
Cilic went 7-8 in tour-level matches by early May, prior to winning the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open (d. Raonic). Now 29-13 on the season, the Croatian has gone 12-2 on grass courts in recent weeks, including a runner-up finish to Feliciano Lopez at the Aegon Championships.