Ten years ago, few would have predicted that a 35-year-old Roger Federer would be making a deep run into the second week of the 2017 Wimbledon. But, to Federer, this was all part of the plan.
Years ago, when the Swiss star was enjoying his first peak, Federer hoisted trophy after trophy but still kept an eye on longevity. He’d smile with another Gentleman’s Singles Trophy and then take a month off from hitting. Or he’d dominate at the Nitto ATP Finals in London and then stay away from his racquet for weeks.
“That was really important for me to look at the longevity aspect. Sometimes I was talking to the team and thinking it was too much time off almost, because I had all this momentum going for me, I would just throw it out of the window for longevity,” Federer said during the Australian Open earlier this year. “It’s so nice to play when you’re confident, because to get that kind of confidence after winning a Slam, [and then] not play anymore, it’s a bit of a waste actually. You should be playing then because you could just keep playing with confidence. But I guess looking back overall, it was probably a good decision to take.”
Last year after Wimbledon, Federer opted for his most extended break yet, taking six months off to rest his knee and back. He made that decision with the biggest events, especially this year’s Wimbledon, in mind.
“That was the idea, that the second week of Wimbledon is that I would feel my best. I feel like it’s coming along nicely, to be quite honest,” Federer said after his quarter-final win against Milos Raonic, whom he lost to in last year’s semi-final. “For me it worked out. It doesn’t mean it’s going to work out for everybody. But sometimes maybe the body and the mind do need a rest.”
Last year against Raonic, Federer was visibly bothered by his knee, falling to the Wimbledon lawn on one point and expressing worries about his the injury after the match. “I just I hope I didn’t hurt myself… But I don’t slip a lot. I don’t ever fall down. It was a different fall for me than I’ve ever had,” Federer said a year ago.
This year, the right-hander glided around the grass against Raonic, striking 46 winners to only nine unforced errors. He advanced to his 12th Wimbledon semi-final after only one hour and 57 minutes.
“I’m much better prepared for Wimbledon this year than last year. Last year I had a hard, hard time practising through the clay-court season. The grass-court season was difficult because of the back issues I had and the knee issues. I was really lacking practice really,” Federer said. “Then the matches, I could never really play quite so freely last year just because I was more focused on how the knee’s behaving rather than how I need to hit my forehand or backhand, or what’s not going to be good for my opponent.
“This year I’m just a normal tennis player again where I can focus on tactics. I think that’s the difference.”
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On Friday, Federer will attempt to his reach his 11th Wimbledon final and 29th Grand Slam title match when he faces 2010 finalist Tomas Berdych. Federer leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 18-6.
Should Federer win, he will become the second oldest man in the Open Era to reach the Wimbledon final after 39-year-old Ken Rosewall finished runner-up at the All England Club in 1974.
“I’m just very happy that I’m still doing so well. Am I surprised? Maybe a little bit,” Federer said. “But the plan was always to hopefully be strong later on in my career.”
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| Venue: All England Club Dates: 3-16 July |
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Britain’s Johanna Konta says there is no reason why she cannot win Wimbledon in the future after losing to five-time champion Venus Williams in this year’s semi-finals.
Konta was aiming to become the first British woman to reach the singles final since Virginia Wade won in 1977.
But the 26-year-old lost 6-4 6-2 to the American on Centre Court.
“I’m not satisfied with where I am now,” she said. “I want to keep pushing myself to be the best I can be.”
She added: “I definitely have a lot more to improve on. It is exciting for me and exciting for my team.”
Konta became the first home player to reach the women’s last four since Wade reached that stage again in 1978, also going a stage further than world number one Andy Murray in this year’s men’s draw.
“I would sum up my whole Wimbledon experience as memorable,” she said.
“It was special to be playing on such great courts with massive support.”
Konta had played in a Grand Slam semi-final before, losing to Germany’s Angelique Kerber at the 2016 Australian Open, but saw attention increase as she looked to emulate Wade’s achievement at SW19.
The Australia-born player, whose family moved to Eastbourne when she was a teenager, had only won one match in the main draw before this year’s run.
She was made the favourite by some bookmakers as early as the third round, expectations rising further after she beat second seed Simona Halep in the quarter-finals.
Konta will move into the world’s top five when the rankings are updated after Saturday’s final between Williams and Spain’s Garbine Muguruza.
“I feel there is no reason why I would not be in a position to win a title like this one day,” she said.
“Reaching the top five is a nice achievement but I’m looking to keep getting better.”
Three-time Grand Slam winner Wade, 72, said it was “sad” Konta could not win on the 40th anniversary of her Wimbledon win.
“Maybe 41 years will be her number,” she told BBC Sport.
“She didn’t fall apart. She was just beaten by someone who had a lot of experience.
“Next year she could make it, or make it to the final.”
After beating Konta, Williams added: “She played an amazing tournament. She showed so much courage and tough situations against players in form.
“I feel she wants these majors and will have the opportunity.”
Williams, 37, will contest her first Wimbledon final since 2009 on Saturday when she meets Muguruza, who thrashed Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova in Thursday’s other semi-final.
Williams is the oldest Grand Slam singles finalist since Martina Navratilova finished runner-up at Wimbledon in 1994.
The American has battled back to the top of the game after being diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome, an autoimmune illness that causes fatigue and joint pain, in 2011.
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“I definitely had issues. I had a lot of issues,” said the seven-time Grand Slam champion.
“This year has been amazing in terms of my play, playing deep into the big events actually.
“I’m excited about being in another final and trying to take it a step further.”
At the start of the tournament, Williams broke down in tears as she was questioned by reporters about a Florida car crash in which a man died.
“There have been a lot of ups and down and I try to keep my head, no matter what is happening in life,” she added.
Martina Navratilova, nine-time Wimbledon champion on how Konta can improve:
“She can use her hand more on her second serve and make the ball it jump. Jo is tall enough and she’s got a nice motion that she doesn’t make the most of.
“The forehand has to be more steady. She can work on the transition game of moving to the net. The backhand slice – she doesn’t use it at all, but it would make a good backhand better.”
Virginia Wade, Britain’s 1977 Wimbledon champion:
What has happened in the last few days, with Jo doing so well and the 40th anniversary, it would have been so much fun if she had won the title.
But we loaded Jo up with all the pressure and all the others have gone under the radar. No-one gave Venus any pressure.
I thought Jo played really well but every time she had a bit of an edge, Venus came up with something better.
Chris Evert, American 18-time Grand Slam singles champion:
Konta winning a Slam is very much a possibility. She plays great on grass courts. The way women’s tennis has opened up she is absolutely a contender.
Tracy Austin, American two-time Grand Slam singles champion:
Konta will learn from this experience. You have to remember that she had not gone past the second round before at Wimbledon.
She came through match after match and played such clutch tennis, especially against Halep.
Her improvement rate has been phenomenal and she’s still young – very young in tennis terms. She has only been among the elite for a year or two.
There is room for improvement and the ceiling is much higher. That is very promising.
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| Wimbledon 2017 on the BBC |
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| Venue: All England Club Dates: 3-16 July |
| Live: Coverage across BBC TV, BBC Radio and BBC Sport website with further coverage on Red Button, Connected TVs and app. Click for full times. |
Jamie Murray and Martina Hingis beat British pair Ken Skupski and Jocelyn Rae to reach the Wimbledon mixed doubles semi-finals.
Britain’s Murray and Switzerland’s Hingis won 6-4 6-4 in one hour four minutes on Centre Court.
Both Murray and Hingis are bidding for their second Wimbledon mixed doubles titles.
Britain’s Heather Watson and Finland’s Henri Kontinen, who won the title last year, are also into the last four.
They progressed via a 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 7-5 win over India’s Rohan Bopanna and Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and will play the second-seeded pair, Brazilian Bruno Soares and Russian Elena Vesnina, in the semi-finals.
Kontinen is hoping to pick up his third Grand Slam title after winning the Australian Open doubles in January alongside John Peers.
Murray, who lifted the SW19 mixed doubles title in 2007 alongside Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic, and Hingis, who won it in 2015 with Indian Leander Paes, will play the Spanish-Brazilian combination of Maria Martinez Sanchez and Marcelo Demoliner.
The pair only announced their partnership last week and again looked comfortable as a partnership on the court.
Hingis has won five mixed doubles titles at Grand Slams as well as 12 women’s doubles and five singles competitions – including Wimbledon in 1997.
Murray won men’s doubles titles at the Australian Open and US Open last year with Brazil’s Bruno Soares.
Venus Williams reaches the Wimbledon final for the first time since 2009, beating Britain’s Johanna Konta 6-4 6-2.
BBC Sport charts the rise of Johanna Konta ahead of her first appearance in a Wimbledon semi-final.
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