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July 9, 2007
Federer shows his mettle in thrilling final
By Matthew Cronin, Fox Sports
He's as smooth as silk when moving side to side and he may not show much emotion when he's keenly constructing points, but if anyone is still questioning Roger Federer's guts, it's time to swallow those thoughts forever more.
In the most difficult of all his 11 Grand Slam title runs,
Federer dug deep into Wimbledon's Centre Court, yelled out to the
ghosts of champions to come to his aid, and overcame his nemesis,
Rafael Nadal, 7-6 (7), 4-6, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-2, in the Wimbledon final. "It's
my first Grand Slam final I won in five sets," said Federer, who wept
in relief. "That alone is going to get emotions out of you because
you're drained towards the end, mentally and physically. You fought
your heart out the whole way. So in the end you want to come through as
the winner because otherwise it's so disappointing because you came so
close." With Bjorn Borg nervously watching from the royal box,
the Swiss tied the great Swede's record of five straight Wimbledon
victories when on match point he courageously ripped an inside-out
forehand return, followed it up with a vicious forehand down the line
and then hammered an overhead for the victory. Due to his
artistic shotmaking and genius strategic maneuvering, Federer isn't
often given credit for how tough he really is, but this final-round
victory was all about heart and inner fortitude. Much like Borg
did when he had to go to 8-6 in the fifth set to overcome John McEnroe
and win his fifth straight Wimbledon crown in 1980, Federer's back was
firmly against the wall against Nadal. At times during the fifth set it
looked like he might snap, but he kept tugging at his vast reserve and
finally mentally out-toughed the muscular Spaniard.
"The record was on the line and everything just adds up and
even puts more pressure on you," Federer said. "So for me, because I
haven't played many five-set matches in the last few years, if you look
at my statistics, because I've always been able to either win clearer
and then would lose more clear. But I haven't lost many best-of-five
set matches lately. I knew that was a big occasion, maybe the biggest
occasion of my life so far on a big stage. I was very happy to come
through as the stronger." Nadal had tortured Federer all day long
with wicked lefty slice serves and heavy topspinned forehands into his
backhand, blinding speed and perfect passing shots. While Federer
served well most of the match, cracked more than a few blinding
forehands of his own and contested headier tiebreakers, he looked like
he might come undone after losing his cool in the fourth set due to a
questionable call, even though Nadal was treated for a knee injury
after the fifth game of the set. But Federer never completely
lost faith and continued to go for his shots, while three-time French
Open champion Nadal let some critical chances slip. The Spaniard had
two break point chances with Federer serving at 1-1, but couldn't
handle a Federer serve on the first one and — in what he later said was
his best opportunity — hooked a forehand just wide. Federer then held
to 2-1. At 2-2, Nadal had two other break-point chances, but
Federer nailed a kick serve that Nadal couldn't get on top of quickly
enough and then torched a service winner down the tee and held to 3-2. The
Spaniard seemed to know that his opportunity was gone and he faded in
the next game, when Federer broke him to 4-2 with an amazing forehand
winner down the line on the dead run. Nadal kept chugging, but Federer
had already raised his game to another level. He stepped on his great
rival to close the contest out with a series of blinding shots. Had
Nadal been able to stop Federer's streak, which now runs 34 matches at
the Big W, the tennis universe would have been turned on its head. It
would have been the first time that Nadal (who still owns a 8-5
lifetime edge over the Swiss) had taken him down at a fast-court major. "I
win my share. He wins his," Federer said. "It's a good rivalry. We've
been at the top for over a hundred weeks together. It is like building
up to one of maybe the great rivalries. But we sometimes haven't lived
up to the expectations in the past, in our matches in majors
especially. I think maybe that was maybe a bit of a problem. But you
can't always play five-set match thrillers. I'm happy it happened
today. I left as the winner. It was perfect." Moreover, Nadal
would have put down Federer at the location where the Swiss has shined
the most, and for the first time could have legitimately called himself
the world's finest all-around player. But it was not to be, even
though the 21-year-old Nadal played about as aggressive of a match as
he ever has on grass. The outcome of the contest turned on that missed
forehand in the third game of the fifth set. For the first time in his
short career, Nadal had to go back to the locker room thinking that the
steely armor that surrounds his large heart cracked a little. "It
was tough for me, no, because I have two 15-40s in the fifth," Nadal
said. "One was big chance to have the break. I know if I have the break
in the fifth I have very good chances to have the title. Well, he save
some points with the serve. And later when he has to win, he has to
break me, he played very good. So, well, just congratulate him. Good
win for him." With his 11th Slam title, Federer tied Borg and
Aussie great Rod Laver for the third-most ever. He's just one behind
Australian Roy Emerson, who owns 12 Slam crowns, and three behind
all-time great Pete Sampras at the young age of 25. He'll be
favored going into the U.S. Open once again, where he'll be seeking his
fourth straight title. He may not be the best ever yet, but he's making
a serious push at the mantle. If he continues to out-tough fields like
he did at Wimbledon, he could conceivably tie Sampras next year. The
American won his 11th Slam title just a month before he turned 27,
while Federer won his just a month before he turns 26. The Swiss is now
a year ahead of Sampras' pace. Whether he'll be able to avoid serious
injury like Sampras, the seven-time Wimbledon champion, is an open
question, but there's no doubt that he has the talent to break his
record. "The best player of history has 14," Nadal said. "He has
11. So he's very close. He's still playing unbelievable. Anyway, even
if he's going to win 14 or 16 or 13, in my opinion, the tennis level is
the best of the history." Unlike many champions, Federer is quite
aware of his place in history and just how far he has to go to achieve
his goals. He has Sampras in his sights and he's taking dead aim at
him, which shows just how serious he is about ending his career as the
god of his sport.
"Obviously
it's on my mind," Federer said. "But it's not like anything where I say
I have to beat this record otherwise it's no good. Pete Sampras is
maybe the greatest player we've ever had. So to come out and break his
record, it's not the easiest thing, I know that. It takes me five
Wimbledons and three Australian Opens and three U.S. Opens to just get
close to him. So it just shows you what a great player he was. "I
don't know how much longer I can keep it up, you know, but I definitely
feel like I'm mentally and physically still fit to go on for many more
years to come. I'd love to equal his record, let's put it that way
first. [But] to be on the same level as Pete Sampras, my former hero in
a way, is already very nice, but I'm not there yet."
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