Wimbledon 2017: I always believed I could win again – Roger Federer

Roger Federer said he always believed he could win Wimbledon again after ending a five-year wait for his eighth title with victory over Marin Cilic.

The Swiss, 35, won 6-3 6-1 6-4 to become the most successful man in Wimbledon singles history, and claim a 19th Grand Slam title.

Federer’s previous win at the All England Club was in 2012, since when he lost in the 2014 and 2015 finals.

“It’s special, Wimbledon was always my favourite tournament,” he said.

• Feature: Federer retains class of true champion
• Video: Watch action from all eight Federer titles
• BBC Radio 5 live In Short: Federer the best grass-court player there is – Cash

“My heroes walked the grounds here and walked the courts here. Because of them, I think I became a better player too.

“To make history here at Wimbledon really means a lot to me just because of all of that really. It’s that simple.”

Fourteen years after his first Wimbledon triumph, Federer added to his lengthy list of achievements:

• He becomes the first man to win Wimbledon eight times, surpassing Pete Sampras (2000) and William Renshaw (1889)
• He is the oldest man to win Wimbledon since the Open era began in 1968
• He extends his record to 19 Grand Slam titles, ahead of Rafael Nadal on 15
• He stands joint-fourth on the all-time Grand Slam list with Helen Wills Moody, five behind Margaret Court on 24

Federer has lost just two matches in 2017, and held match points in both of those, collecting titles at the Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami Masters, Halle and now Wimbledon.

His success is all the more remarkable after he left the All England Club 12 months ago and chose to miss the rest of 2016 to fully recover from a knee injury.

The Swiss returned to win his 18th major title in Melbourne, sparking a superb run of form, but then skipped the clay-court season and took a 10-week break.

“Honestly, I’m incredibly surprised how well this year is going, how well I’m feeling,” said Federer.

“I knew I could do great again maybe one day, but not at this level. I guess you would have laughed, too, if I told you I was going to win two Slams this year. People wouldn’t believe me if I said that.

“I also didn’t believe that I was going to win two this year. It’s incredible.”

Federer will rise to third in the world rankings on Monday and plans to play more in the second half of the season than the first.

He also expects to try for a ninth Wimbledon title in 2018, aged 36.

“The goal is definitely to be here again next year to try to defend,” he said.

Cilic, 28, struggled with a blister on his left foot and broke down in tears during the second set of the final.

“I even felt it in the match with Querrey in the semis,” said the Croat. “Fluid just came down under my callus in the foot.”

The seventh seed revealed that he had taken painkillers before the match and knew as early as the warm-up that he would struggle to move freely.

On the tearful changeover, he said: ” It was just emotionally that I knew on such a big day that I’m unable to play my best tennis, in physical, and in every single way.

“That was just a little bit combination of all emotions because I know how much it took for me to get here.”

Federer – the standout statistics

Analysis

Russell Fuller, BBC tennis correspondent

Twelve months ago, the state of Federer’s knee and his future in the sport were uncertain. Six months away from competition worked wonders and he is now within striking distance of returning to the top of the rankings.

The now 19-time Grand Slam champion turns 36 in three weeks and yet it is he or Rafael Nadal who will be the next world number one.

With Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic weighing up the best way to treat hip and elbow injuries, Federer is up to number three and doesn’t have a single ranking point to defend for the rest of the year.

Source link

Wimbledon 2017: Jamie Murray & Martina Hingis seal mixed doubles title

Britain’s Jamie Murray and Switzerland’s Martina Hingis beat Britain’s Heather Watson and Finland’s Henri Kontinen in the Wimbledon mixed doubles final.

Source link

Murray & Hingis win mixed doubles title – highlights & report

Top seeds Jamie Murray and Martina Hingis beat defending champions Heather Watson and Henri Kontinen 6-4 6-4 to win the Wimbledon mixed doubles final.

The British and Swiss pairing, both former title winners at Wimbledon, crucially broke Briton Watson and Finn Kontinen in the seventh game of the match en route to taking the first set.

They repeated the feat in the seventh game of the second set to lead 4-3.

I forgot what it felt like the last time I won

Murray and Hingis then held serve in the 10th game to secure the title.

That gave the 36-year-old Swiss player her sixth Wimbledon title – comprising one singles crown, three doubles and two mixed doubles.

Hingis only decided to team up with her Scottish partner prior to this tournament.

She told BBC Sport: “I’m really happy how we played and performed. One Briton was going to win a Wimbledon title this year and I was hoping it would be mine.

When asked whether they would both return next year as a partnership, she added: “We have the next Grand Slam coming up and we have to talk about that.”

This was Murray’s second Wimbledon title, having won the mixed doubles with Jelena Jankovic 10 years ago.

The 31-year-old said: “I forgot what it felt like the last time I won.

“This was pretty sweet and I have to give huge thanks to Martina – when she texted me it was an easy decision and it’s great to have the trophy again.

“A lot of guys in the locker room would be jumping at the chance to join Martina.”

He said the atmosphere was “strange” in Centre Court because the British support were “a bit split with Heather and me”.

Murray added: “It was a great success for British tennis to have the two of us in the final.”

Source link

'The whole of Croatia was crying with Cilic' – Becker analysis

Three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker analyses Marin Cilic’s performance as he breaks down in tears in Wimbledon final during loss to Roger Federer.

Source link

Live Wimbledon Final: Federer vs. Cilic

Live Wimbledon Final: Federer vs. Cilic

Source link

Watch: Remarkable 'reverse winner' from Jamie Murray

Jamie Murray pulls off a remarkable ‘reverse winner’ against Heather Watson and Henri Kontinen as he and Martina Hingis win the first set in the Wimbledon mixed doubles final.

Source link

Federer wins eighth Wimbledon title – highlights & report

Roger Federer became the first man to win Wimbledon eight times and extended his record to 19 Grand Slam titles with victory over Croatia’s Marin Cilic.

The Swiss third seed won 6-3 6-1 6-4 as seventh seed Cilic struggled with a blister on his left foot and broke down in tears during the second set.

Federer, 35, finished the contest in one hour and 41 minutes to claim his first Wimbledon title since 2012.

He becomes the oldest man in the Open era to win at the All England Club.

“It is cruel sometimes,” Federer said of Cilic’s physical difficulties.

“But Marin fought well and is a hero, so congratulations on a wonderful tournament.”

• Relive how Federer made Wimbledon history
• Why Wimbledon 2017 is Federer’s sweetest win
• Watch action from all eight Federer titles
• Murray & Hingis win mixed doubles title
• Federer the best grass-court player there is – Cash

Federer surpasses Pete Sampras and William Renshaw, who won their seventh titles in 2000 and 1889 respectively, with only Martina Navratilova still ahead in terms of Wimbledon singles titles on nine.

He has won two of the three Grand Slam titles so far this year, having returned from a six-month break to win the Australian Open in January.

With 19 major titles he extends his lead over Rafael Nadal in the men’s game to four, and now stands joint-fourth on the all-time list with Helen Wills Moody, five behind Margaret Court on 24.

‘I never give up in a match’

Among his long list of achievements, Federer became the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1976 to win the Wimbledon title without dropping a set.

The tournament favourite from the outset, he was rarely troubled over the course of seven matches, and Cilic was not in the condition to provide a serious test.

“I never give up in a match. I gave it my best – it’s all I can do,” Cilic said afterwards.

Federer was playing in his 11th Wimbledon final and Cilic his first, and the gap in experience showed from the early stages.

Cilic, 28, hit a forehand which bounced before the net on the opening point as the nerves appeared hard to shake off.

Federer offered up a couple of early double faults but there was a sense of inevitability about the first break, which came in game five after Cilic fell heavily chasing down a drop shot, and then sent a backhand into the net.

A beautiful cross-court forehand helped Federer towards set point in game nine and Cilic duly double-faulted, ending the set with a 49% first-serve percentage that hardly troubled the Swiss.

After Federer made it 3-0 in the second set, a tearful Cilic sat in his chair as the doctor, tournament referee and supervisor attended to him.

‘It’s a wonderful moment for the family’

Cilic later revealed that it was emotional rather than physical pain at that stage, but he was clearly in some distress and there was little he could do to stop Federer racing into a two-set lead after just 61 minutes.

A medical time-out was taken before the start of the third set and this time strapping and padding applied to Cilic’s left foot.

A first retirement in a men’s singles final since 1911 appeared likely but Cilic struggled on, while Federer probed for the break that would surely end his wait for a Wimbledon title.

It came at 3-3, when Cilic netted a backhand and successive forehands, and only the dark clouds above Centre Court appeared capable of delaying Federer’s coronation.

Fourteen years on from his first victory, there were signs of nerves when he served for the title for the first time since 2012.

A first championship point disappeared with a wayward forehand, but an ace down the middle followed and it was the celebrating Swiss who was now tearful as he looked to his team and family, including wife Mirka and four children, in the stands.

“I think the younger twins think this is a nice view and a nice playground – hopefully one day they’ll understand,” added Federer.

“They come for the finals. It’s a wonderful moment for the family and my team.

“This one is for us. Thank you to Wimbledon, thank you Switzerland.”

Analysis

Boris Becker, three-time Wimbledon champion: “We can’t emphasise enough all the records Federer has broken, and with tough competition.

“Everybody is younger than him and he finds the way to win easily, and do it consistently on every surface, apart from clay. It’s just impossible to fathom. You think, where is he going to go now? Will it be 20 Grand Slams at the US Open?”

Tim Henman, four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist: “Because Federer makes it look so easy and the technique is effortless, people take for granted the training that he does. He’s meticulous and at the age of 35 he knows what works for him.

“I’ve seen him in the locker room doing all the exercises for his lower back, which he can struggle with. He can struggle with his shoulder as well. I think fundamentally he loves what he does. This is his hobby, not his job. If it stays that way, there’s no reason why he can’t keep playing.”

Federer – the standout statistics

Source link

Watch action from all eight Federer Wimbledon wins

Watch the winning moments from all eight of Roger Federer’s Wimbledon triumphs – between 2003 and 2017.

Source link

Why Wimbledon 2017 is Federer's sweetest win of all

Once with Roger Federer at Wimbledon, it was all about certain perfection. You knew the end result and you knew the impossible shots and dreamy moves that would take him there.

What has made this startling late renaissance – confirmed with his straight-set victory over a woebegone Marin Cilic – arguably sweeter still than even those glory days is the doubt.

Doubt that he could ever be what he was. Doubt that five years without a Wimbledon title, having once held such dominance that he won five in a row, could be an interregnum rather than the end. Doubt that six months off after his semi-final defeat a year ago, by a man a decade younger, wasn’t the thin end of retirement in disguise.

You watched Federer last year and beyond to be reminded in little passages of what he used to be able to do, and to say that you had seen him doing it. The pleasure of those little living flashbacks came with the melancholic sense that they were the past rather than the present, and that the future would see gentle decay eat away a little more with each year.

• Federer wins eighth Wimbledon title
• Watch: Federer recalls when Wimbledon net seemed ‘way too high’
• Federer targets number one spot

You loved Peak Federer because he could control a court and find shots and angles that you could barely imagine. And then slowly he became more like you in ways you didn’t want: hurting his knee running a bath for his kids, falling face down on the court in futile chase of a Milos Raonic forehand, hair that had once been a ponytail and then bushy starting to creep back like the grass on the Centre Court baseline. When he switched to a bigger racquet in 2014, it was like seeing a flying ace reaching for reading glasses.

The decline was long and it was true. After his impregnability was shattered by Rafa Nadal in 2008, two more Wimbledon titles came – but they sandwiched two quarter-finals defeats and were succeeded by second-round humiliation to a man ranked 116 in the world.

He could cast magic in hot bursts, pulling Andy Murray apart in the semi-final two years ago, but the spell would not hold, as a dead-eyed dismantling by Novak Djokovic followed in the final.

At the start of this year, the doubt was everywhere but in his own mind. First came that astonishing Australian Open final against Nadal in January, when it felt like the Beatles reforming for a one-off gig in 1979, and now this: not a greatest hits tour, but a fresh wonder; not a faded version of a better past, but history remade again.

He is the first man in tennis history to reach the final of a single Grand Slam 11 times, and the first man at Wimbledon to win eight singles titles. He has a 19th Grand Slam title, four more than his old nemesis Nadal, seven more than Djokovic, victor in his previous two Wimbledon finals.

And he has done it as he did it a tennis lifetime ago: reducing opponents to the role of stooge, their presence on some shots merely to help the composition of the image; footwork that should be frantic to get him anywhere near position, instead taking him there unhurried and unflustered, as if stepping through a loop in time; seeing angles and then making them in a way that would be impressive enough in snooker, computed while ruminatively rubbing chalk on cue tip, let alone sprinting while appearing not to be sprinting.

Beautiful to his acolytes, it is also horribly cruel on the men he plays. In his semi-final win over Tomas Berdych, he hit a squash-style forehand pass cross-court that left his opponent, who had played the ideal approach shot and was standing exactly where he should have been at the net, redundant and humiliated.

It came in the 10th game of the final set, break of serve already secured, in a game he did not care about winning.

Poor Cilic was in tears before an hour of the final had been played, a set and a break down, his hopes heading down the gurgler before he could take any of it in. It made the final a wake as well as a celebration.

Against a player like no other, Federer’s opponent also has to accept that the crowd will be stacked against them too. There is partisan, and then there is Centre Court when its greatest champion is back for more.

Wimbledon can appear very pleased with itself sometimes, reclining on its grand traditions, dressing its officials like guests at a Gatsby garden party, spending a little too long looking in the mirror telling itself how good it looks. For some, Federer is part of that: the monogrammed blazers he wore on to court in 2006 and 2007, the 1930s cardigan with gold piping and buttons of the following years.

• Live scores and schedule
• BBC coverage times and channels
• Take on the legends in our interactive game

On Centre Court on days like this, the relationship makes better sense. In an arena that combines 1920s design with a 21st-century roof, Federer is both an aesthetic throwback, unfurling that one-handed backhand, serve-volleying when he chooses, and a man at ease in a digital world, his 7.6 million Twitter followers 70 times that of Cilic.

You see serious people who otherwise never run scrambling through the corridors to get to their seats. When they do, they are forever teetering on the brink of collapsing weak-kneed into his arms, just waiting for the tiniest nudge from his racquet to start purring once again.

Inspired to play tennis?

Find out how to get into tennis in our special guide.

Source link

Wimbledon 2017: 'I should take more time off' – Roger Federer jokes after win

A delighted Roger Federer speaks about taking some more time out after winning a record eighth Wimbledon men’s title.

Source link