Federer Unfazed By Match Points, Celebrities

Roger Federer has produced plenty of magic on court throughout his storied career, but his improbable quarter-final comeback against ninth seed Marin Cilic on Wednesday at Wimbledon astonished even his most loyal supporters.

The seven-time Wimbledon champion saved three match points and rallied from two sets down to defeat Cilic on Centre Court. Federer saved a match point down 4-5 and 5-6 in the fourth set, then saved another in the fourth-set tie-break to force a deciding set. With Cilic’s coach, 2001 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, unable to contain his emotions as Federer surged ahead to victory, the captivated crowd gave the third seed a standing ovation after match point as he lived to fight another day.

“It’s great winning matches like these, coming back from two sets to love. It’s rare. When it happens, you really enjoy them,” said Federer. “I definitely felt like I got lucky to some extent. When you’re saving match points… it’s a moment when it’s not in your control anymore. But I fought, I tried, I believed. At the end, I got it done. It was an emotional win, always [is] when you come back from two sets to love. But because of the season that I’ve had, it’s wonderful.

With the win, Federer tied records held by Jimmy Connors for most semi-final appearances at Wimbledon (11) and most match wins at the grass-court major (84). He also set an all-time new record for most Grand Slam match wins at 307, passing the record previously held by Martina Navratilova.

Although reaching the final four at Wimbledon has become customary for Federer, it was hardly a guarantee when he arrived in London. The third seed suffered semi-final losses on grass this year to Dominic Thiem in Stuttgart and Alexander Zverev in Halle. Having already been forced to miss Roland Garros this year based on a lack of training due to injury, Federer’s run this fortnight came as a surprise even to him.

“I was very worried coming here,” he admitted. “I think it was huge for me to play the seven matches I did in Halle and Stuttgart. They served me very well. They gave me so much information to see what I could do, what I couldn’t do. Then knowing that I had a week in between, if I get through the first week here at Wimbledon, who knows. I did surprise myself in quite a big way actually.”

His record-breaking win over Cilic was a star-studded affair, with celebrities including Anna Wintour and David Beckham looking on with the rest of an enthralled Centre Court crowd. But for Federer, it’s the A-listers of the tennis world and not A-list celebrities that still make his stomach drop.

“Back in the day, I was nervous playing in front of my family, then in front of famous people, then in front of famous sports people, famous tennis players. Today what makes me nervous is the legends of our sport,” he said. “That’s the only thing that still gets me nervous. When I see them watching, I feel like, ‘I better play well.’ You don’t want to disappoint legends of our sport.”