Roger Federer captured a record eighth Wimbledon title on Sunday afternoon, capping off a perfect run through the tournament by cruising past Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 in a one-sided final. Federer took advantage of a hobbled opponent to win a seventh consecutive match in straight sets and triumph after one hour and 41 minutes.
One would have been enough for the Swiss when he started his career. Now he has eight at the All-England Club and 19 slam titles overall.
“I hoped to have a chance maybe one day to be in a Wimbledon finals and have a chance to win the tournament,” Federer commented. “Winning eight is not something you can ever aim for, in my opinion…. I was just really a normal guy growing up in Basel, hoping to make a career on the tennis tour. I guess I dreamed, I believed, and really hoped that I could actually maybe really do it; to make it real. So I put in a lot of work, and it paid off.”
Hard work was not the norm for Federer this fortnight. At leas it did not seem like he was working hard.
The 35-year-old erased all seven of his opponents, starting with a a second-set retirement from Alexandr Dolgopolov and rolling through only marginally tougher three-setters thereafter. Cilic, the latest victim, appeared to the toughest test of the tournament as championship Sunday loomed. The 6’6” Croat was a quarterfinalist last year, when he pushed Federer to five sets, and had been in stellar form this season since the start of the clay-court swing.
Cilic proved to be a tough test for a while–well, for all of four games. Leading 2-1 in the first set, the seventh seed got a look at a second serve on break point at 30-40 only to dump a backhand return into the net. Federer eventually held serve, and that quickly propelled him to a break of his own for 3-2.
The former world No. 1 consolidated the lead to take the first set and promptly raced to a 3-0 advantage in the second. That is when it started to fall apart emotionally for Cilic, who was in tears while getting tended to by the trainer and doctor for apparent foot blisters.
“It was just a feeling that I knew that I cannot give my best on the court,” the 2014 U.S. Open champion said. “That I cannot give my best game and my best tennis, especially at this stage of my career, at such a big match. It was very, very difficult to deal with it. It didn’t hurt so much that it was putting me in tears. It was just that feeling that I wasn’t able to give the best.”
Even his best may not have been good enough. Federer’s scorcing form continued to the tune of 23 winners and only eight unforced errors. Although Cilic raised his level to something respectable in the third set, Federer still coasted through it with one break of serve.
The 19-time Grand Slam champion clinched the title with his eighth ace of the match.
“(I) don’t want to put down his victory in any way,” Cilic said of Federer. “I mean, he deserved it completely. These things are part of the sport. Really congratulations to him and his team for everything he did; for another title here.”
Federer, meanwhile, has been the personification of health in 2017 following a few injury-plagued seasons.
“It’s incredible,” he assured. “I don’t know how much longer it’s going to last. I have no idea. But I just got to always remind myself that health comes first at this point. If I do that, maybe things are actually possible I didn’t think were.”
As the quote you provide indicates, Cilic was not hobbled in any significant physical way. He was just devastated that he wasn’t able to play his best, but Federer had a lot to do with that. After a nervous start, he basically played as well as he ever has. Apart from hitting 76% 1st serves in (has he ever done better?), his ROS was amazing, and Cilic was able to hit very few serves by him, even when he started serving better later in the match.
Joe, as you probably have read by now, Marin was unable to push off the foot with the blister — it was significant because no way could he perform as he wanted and needed to to make it a competitive match. Federer acknowledged it and lauded him a hero in his winner’s speech. Cilic is very respectful and humble, he said nothing about how he acquired the blister during his Querrey match but that’s really where the problem started. Cilic took the court trying his best but dang it — it didn’t take long before he had to face the fact that giving his best would be all he could do. And in the final vs Federer, it wouldn’t be enough. He wasn’t going to discredit the moment by retiring the match. After reading more about it, I realize performance anxiety, like I initially thought, had nothing to do with it.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/tennis/video-marin-cilic-breaks-down-in-tears-during-wimbledon-final-v-roger-federer/news-story/e3bf2fd4e7494e140de8d31a53671dc3
Federer’s Wimbledon performance was perfect – despite the injured condition of his opponent in the final. All credit to Federer for how he manages to remain at the top of the game and in GS’s, works his way through the draw, coming out the strongest one there. He’s certainly special and I think better than ever at managing his body during a GS and being as efficient as possible.
Marin has a ways to go — but I think he’ll win another GS — maybe next year. Federer could very well be back to contest another Wimbledon final next year too!
rc,
I wasn’t aware of his bad the foot blister was for Cilic. But I felt that it was quite possible that it did affect his ability to move and push off in the match. Now you have confirmed that this occurred during his tough match with Querrey.
I think once he realized that it was going to keep him from playing his best, that’s when he broke down. I remember Almagro breaking down at RG and sobbing when he reinjured his knee in his match with Delpo. So players can break down.
I appreciate your efforts to clear the record. I also remember when Rafa had a blister in his hand during the 2014 AO. That created problems with his ability to grip the racket in his quarterfinal match with Dimi. His team found a solution and Rafa was able to play much better in the semifinal against Fed.
Rafa has also had painful foot blisters in the past. These injuries are not serious, but cDNA definitely compromise a player’s ability to move and play well.
This takes nothing away from Fed and what he achieved.
Congratulation to the great legend Fed and all his fans.
competition in getting more slams will heat up by the time we reach USO. Rafa surely would want to reduce the gap and Roger would aim for his 20th.
For Nole, it is getting more difficult to close the gap of 7 given he has reached 30. Rafa on the other hand always has RG as almost a guarantee. Perhaps he could take 2 to 3 more from there.
Let’s enjoy the show.
Good tournament for Federer, I’m glad he won despite having a cold for most of the tournament.
I want to be like FED….doesn’t every tennis fan. Cheers to the GOAT!
Never!
Here is the final word on the Wimbledon final between Roger and Cilic
http://www.138mph.com/federer-vs-cilic-the-last-word-on-the-wimbledon-final/