Roger Federer is gone from Wimbledon 2011, so has Bernie Tomic. But he’s arrived as a qualified member of the elite group. Federer went down 3-6 6-7 6-4 6-4 6-4 in a tick over three hours to the free-spirited Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Novak Djokovic eventually tamed teenager Tomic 6-2 3-6 6-3 7-5 in two hours 41.
But Tsonga is the story.
“I played unbelievable, served unbelievable, and now I’m here in the semi-final. I can’t believe it.
“It’s never easy playing Roger. I came back from two sets down, it was just amazing. That’s crazy,” said the wide-eyed Tsonga.
Crazy, alright.
Down two-sets to love, Tsonga pushed the explosion button, and Federer had no answer. Yet, the Swiss maestro knows how to win the big matches.
In 227 victories during his stellar Slam career, Federer has never lost 178 times after winning the first two sets. Until last night. And he sure didn’t play poorly.
Federer served at 75%, winning 78% of first serves and 71% of second serves. He cracked 57 winners and made only 11 unforced errors – seriously good numbers that would win 999 of 1,000 matches.
No problem.
But this was the 1,000th, and Tsonga was the problem.
He served at 70%, winning 73% of first serves and 67% of second. And he blasted 63 winners, with 22 unforced errors, in this high quality clash.
The serving was extraordinary.
Federer converted one break point in Tsonga’s opening service game of the match. That clinched the first set. But that was it. Federer never saw another break point in over three hours, while Tsonga converted one of three break points in each of the third, fourth, and fifth sets.
And there was the stunning victory in a nutshell.
Awesome tennis, with golf legends Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman side-by-side in the Royal Box.
So Federer bowed out of Wimbledon for the second successive year in the quarters, with Tomas Berdych the destroyer last year, on the way to his only Slam final.
Tomic bowed out overnight as well, and like Federer, with distinction.
Djokovic paid Tomic the ultimate compliment. As the chockers number one court crowd stood saluting the Serb, he was saluting Tomic, clapping his racquet and pointing directly towards the Australian with a big smile.
There’s no better accolade than public recognition from a peer. Tomic has arrived, alright.
While the Djokovic-Tomic quarter-final didn’t have the overall quality of the Tsonga-Federer clash, there were many moments of pure magic.
Some of the long rallies produced blistering strokeplay off both wings by both players; a genuine slug-fest.
Yet, both were adept at changing the pace, although Djokovic paid Tomic another compliment by saying the Australian was better at disguising his change-ups.
“It was really hard to predict where he’s going to go,” said Djokovic.
“He was not making many unforced errors from the baseline, and that made life very difficult for me.
“We were playing cat and mouse, but in the end I’m just happy to get through”.
For the record, Djokovic served at 63%, Tomic 65%; Djokovic cracked 39 winners, Tomic 43; and Djokovic made 27 unforced errors, Tomic 41.
So it’s a Djokovic-Tsonga semi that promises plenty.
But a special tribute to Novak Djokovic for being so gracious in victory as to stand aside and let the crowd acknowledge Bernie Tomic’s outstanding contribution to a classic confrontation.
A very rare recognition.
And to Roger Federer, a gracious loser, waiting for three minutes while Jo-Wilfried Tsonga enjoyed his moment in the sun, then leave centre court together.
Rafael Nadal take note. Let’s see how gracious he can be in his semi with local hope Andy Murray.
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