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Put simply, yesterday’s Wimbledon Quarter Final between Roger Federer and Marin Cilic will go down as a classic.
Federer the undeniable champion and crowd favourite with an enviable grass court record pitted against the challenger Cilic, looking to recapture his 2014 form which saw him win the US Open.
The opening two sets were Cilic’s. He outserved, outmuscled and outplayed Roger – words that would not often have been uttered over Federer’s distinguished career. 7-6, 6-4 down in just over an hour, Federer’s quest for an eighth Wimbledon crown looked all but over.
A lesser player would’ve seen the writing on the wall, yet Federer refused to yield. Point by point he worked his way into the contest. A returned serve here, a winner there. At three-all in the third, Federer once again found himself staring down the barrel at 0-40, yet summoned a will for a contest rarely seen to deny Cilic – reeling off five consecutive points.
As the crowd roared with delight, one could sense the momentum shifting ever so slightly. The Fed seemingly completed the turnaround by breaking Cilic and holding to take the set 6-3.
Cilic, however, wasn’t about to let Federer walk back into the match. While he continued a barrage of unplayable serves and bullet-like winners in the fourth, Roger clung on. He saved two match points, forced it to a tie-break, defended a third match point and then turned aggressor to take the set 7-6 in a pulsating finale.
The fifth set saw a change in the game style, the match opening up as both Federer and Cilic looked for winners to wrestle an advantage. But fate had already written the script, and it was to be Roger’s day.
He wowed the crowd with characteristic passing shots and angles that defied logic, closing out the match with his 27th ace and growing the legend that already precedes him.
It seems fitting that as Cilic and Federer strode towards Centre Court yesterday; they were greeted with the familiar inscription taken from Rudyard Kipling’s If.
It reads “if you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same…”
At 34 years of age, this may very well be Roger’s last visit to SW19. Despite trailing by two sets and facing elimination on several occasions, he did what all champions do and dug himself out of a hole.
With an unprecedented 18th Grand Slam title now within his reach, perhaps toeing the line with disaster against Cilic will make his quest for triumph all the sweeter.
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