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Monday 17 July 2017

8 is enough: Federer gets record-breaking Wimbledon title

By HOWARD FENDRICH parted Wimbledon a year
AP Tennis Writer ago with a lot of doubts:
LONDON (AP) — After Rog- His body was letting him
er Federer closed out a down for the first time in
Wimbledon final that was his career. He skipped
more of a coronation than the Rio Olympics, the U.S.
a contest with an ace, he Open and everything else
sat in his changeover chair in an attempt to try to get
and wiped away tears. healthy.
That is when it hit him: His It worked. And how.
wait for record-breaking Feeling refreshed and fully
No. 8 was over. Until then, fit, Federer returned to the
Federer wasn’t focused tour in January and was
on the notion of winning suddenly playing like the
the grass-court tourna- guy of old, rather than like
ment more often than any an old guy.
other man in the history of In a turn-back-the-clock
an event first held in 1877. moment, he faced rival
All he’d been concerned Rafael Nadal in the Austra-
with, consumed with, was lian Open final and, with a
being healthy enough to fifth-set comeback, won. It
compete at a high level was Federer’s 18th Grand
and, he hoped, to win a Slam title, adding to his
title, regardless of what the own record, and first in 4½
total count would be. Switzerland’s Roger Federer holds the trophy after defeating Croatia’s Marin Cilic to win the Men’s years.
Capping a marvelous fort- Singles final match on day thirteen at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London Sunday, Those who had written Fe-
night in which he never July 16, 2017. derer off needed to grab
dropped a set, Federer Associated Press their erasers.
won his eighth Wimbledon He couldn’t be sure an- Renshaw won each of In the next game, Federer The formula made sense,
trophy and 19th Grand other final, let alone title, his in the 1880s, when the broke to lead 3-2. He broke clearly, so why not try it
Slam championship over- was possible a year ago, previous year’s winner ad- again to take that set again? Federer skipped
all by overwhelming Marin when he lost in the semifi- vanced automatically to when Cilic double-faulted, this year’s clay-court cir-
Cilic 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 in merely nals, then took the rest of the final. walked to the changeover cuit to be in top shape for
1 hour, 41 minutes Sunday. 2016 off to let his surgically With clouds overhead and and slammed his racket. the grass courts he loves
“Wimbledon was always repaired left knee heal. a bit of chill in the air Sun- Cilic sat and covered his so dearly. Sunday’s victory
my favorite tournament. “It’s been a long road,” he day, Federer’s early play head with a white towel. made Federer 31-2 in 2017,
Will always be my favorite said. was symptomatic of jitters. With Federer up 3-0 in the with a tour-leading five
tournament. Sunday’s outcome was For everything he’s accom- second set, Cilic cried titles.
My heroes walked the only in doubt for about 20 plished, for all of the bright while he was visited by a “On one side, yes, it surpris-
grounds here and walked minutes, the amount of lights and big settings to doctor and trainer. He said es me.
the courts here. Because time it took Federer to grab which he’s become ac- that was not so much a re- On the other side, I know
of them, I think I became a his first lead. customed, the guy many sult of his foot’s pain as the he’s able to do so many
better player, too,” said Fe- Cilic said afterward he de- have labeled the “GOAT” idea that he could not play things. So it’s not surpris-
derer, who will turn 36 next veloped a painful blister on — Greatest of All Time — well enough to present a ing,” coach Severin Luthi
month and is the oldest his left foot during his semifi- admits to feeling heavy challenge. said. “But when it happens,
male champion at the All nal Friday, and that affect- legs and jumbled thoughts “Very tough emotionally,” it’s amazing.”
England Club in the Open ed his ability to move prop- to this day. said Cilic, whose foot was Yes, Federer is back to be-
era, which began in 1968. erly or summon the intimi- It was Federer, not Cilic, re-taped by a trainer af- ing supreme in tennis, lord-
“To mark history here at dating serves that carried who double-faulted in his ter the second set. “I knew ing over the sport the way
Wimbledon really means a him to his lone Grand Slam first two service games. And that I cannot give my best no man has.
lot to me just because of all title at the 2014 U.S. Open, it was Federer, not Cilic, on the court.” He’s not, of course, the
of that, really,” he said. “It’s where he surprisingly beat who faced the initial break It might not have mattered. same 21-year-old kid who
that simple.” Federer in the semifinals. point, in the fourth game. Federer was, as he’d been had a ponytail and scruff
His first major title came at This one was all Federer, But Cilic netted a return, all tournament, flawless, when he beat Mark Philip-
Wimbledon in 2003, and who had been tied at beginning a run of 17 points the first man in 41 years to poussis in the 2003 Wim-
was followed by others in seven championships with in a row won by Federer on win Wimbledon without bledon final. Or the teen
2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. Pete Sampras and William his serve. He would never ceding a set. Against Cilic, who, two years earlier,
He won again in 2009 and Renshaw in what’s still of- be confronted with anoth- he had 23 winners, only beat Sampras himself at
2012. But then he lost finals ficially called Gentlemen’s er break point. eight unforced errors. Centre Court in the fourth
in 2014 and 2015 to Novak Singles. Sampras won all “I gave it my best,” Cilic This caps a remarkable re- round, their only tour-level
Djokovic. but one of his in the 1990s; said. “That’s all I could do.” boot for Federer, who de- meeting.q