When the 130th Wimbledon Championship started, tennis world had doubts on whether Roger Federer will enter into the second week of the tournament. Two consecutive semi-final losses in grass court tournaments prior to Wimbledon and the back injury which made him take a three-month break made the legend have the doubt himself.
Roger Federer’s progress to the fourth round was shadowed by the red-hot form of his rival Novak Djokovic. Djokovic was playing Sam Querry for a place in last 16. After series of rain interruptions, the USA star uprooted the World number one’s 30 match winning streak at Grand Slams.
This news lost its significance very soon, as the focus turned towards Roger Federer and the chance of his 18th Grand Slam title. Roger Federer himself admitted that he had a high chance of winning the title this year following Novak Djokovic’s exit.
He started with high confidence in the fourth round by dispatching Johnson in straight sets. His first major threat came in the quarter-finals when he faced Martin Cilic, the man who defeated him in the semifinals of US Open 2014. Roger was completely outlasted in the first two sets and it appeared to be another major upset of the tournament.
But Federer won the third set comprehensively and then saved three match points in the fourth set to take the match to the decider. After he won the decider, the worshipers of the ‘Tennis Lord’ started fixing their schedules for Sunday’s final, looking ahead of a Friday in between.
There came big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic. Federer was expected to pass the stiff resistance with some difficulty. After losing the first set, Federer made a strong comeback by winning the tiebreaker to clinch the second set. He broke the serve of Raonic in the third set and it appeared that Federer was gaining his momentum to finish it in four sets.
But with the awkward break point conversion in the fourth set, he lost the tiebreaker to take the match to the decider. Serving missiles in the services, Raonic left Federer with no idea to start a counter attack. With a single break of Federer’s serve Raonic sealed the match to enter into his first Grand Slam final.
This was Federer’s best chance to add another Grand Slam to his profile. He will be 35 next month and he has already shown some signs of age factor through a series of injuries. His highest chance of winning a grand slam is winning at Wimbledon.
This loss will surely be a big heartbreak for the 17 time Grand Slam Champion after losing two consecutive finals against Novak Djokovic.
Legends roar back after being written off. Federer showed his class by returning strong after 2011 and 2013 seasons. The Sun sets, it never dies. Though the chance of Federer winning another grand slam is very low, the tennis world still hopes he can do it.
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