WIMBLEDON CHAMPIONSHIPS MEN'S QUARTER-FINALS:ONE OF the aspects of Roger Federer's career that other players have marvelled at has been his capacity to stay healthy and arrive year in, year out fit enough to play a game that comes to life through position, movement and thought as much as power.
That yesterday’s match against Tomas Berdych was his 25th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final even astonishes those begrudging players who hope to beat him each week.
Yesterday Federer’s body finally defaultedto mere mortal. Struggling with back and leg injuries, the top seed could not conjure up the expected blend of pizzazz and dash to beat a man he has played on 10 occasions and beaten eight times. His game was good enough to threaten and squeeze Berdych but it never flared or as it often does at key moments.
The 28-year-old also cuts loose a chance of a record-equalling seventh Wimbledon win as well as a 17th major title as 12th seed Berdych advanced 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to meet Novak Djokovic in the semifinal. The Serbian third seed had a straight sets win over Andy Roddick’s nemesis, Yen-hsun Lu.
Berdych broke Federer’s serve four times in the two and half hours it took to win, the third disfiguring 6-1 set indicating long before the champion capitulated in the fourth set that something might have been awry.
While Berdych presented a big aggressive game, it was nothing that surprised Federer. As he pointed out after the match, the Czech player might have recently become more consistent but he wasn’t going to reinvent his game in a year. Given the level at which Federer plays, it was the most dependable body that cost him a place in the semi-final.
“I couldn’t play the way I wanted to play. I am struggling with a little bit of a back and a leg issue. That just doesn’t allow me to play the way I would like to,” said Federer. “I’ve been feeling bad for the last two, three matches now. It’s just not good and healthy to play under these kinds of conditions.”
The leg became an issue in the grass tournament that preceded Wimbledon at Halle, where Lleyton Hewitt beat him in the final. The back also started there but deteriorated when he stepped onto the grass at the All England club.
“It’s normal that the back tends to get stiff because you have to go for many more lower shots. I think many players have it but it’s just not nice when it doesn’t go away and you can’t play freely. I’m definitely struggling at the moment. “That’s disappointing,” he added before announcing an immediate two-week vacation away from tennis.
One break of serve in the first set, where Federer won only 33 per cent of baseline points, opened the door for Berdych. Federer reversed that and took the second 6-2 to level. In the third set he earned no break points and dropped his own serve twice for 6-1. Loopy, overly-long forehands, wide volleys and a struggle for extended consistency undermined his challenge, especially under pressure. He earned eight break points but converted only one.
In the fourth set an uncontrolled Federer volley allowed Berdych to break serve. Suddenly the match appeared available. But what an adventure it was in the taking. In the final game Berdych went from having match point to break point down, saved it then earned a second match point, closing the deal with a forehand winner.
That large seismic shift in the first match on Centre Court seemed to settle the ground around Wimbledon. Rafa Nadal teased his Spanish support by dropping the first set against Sweden’s Robin Soderling but from there on raced on to the semi-final 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-1.
Having missed last year’s tournament through injury, the 24-year-old went into the match with a positive 4-2 head-to-head record. But Soderling was also the first player to have beaten Nadal at Roland Garros, when he won in four sets in 2009, so dropping the first set sent a shiver through the crowd. Could the two big names fall on the one day?
Nadal steadied. Soderling called the trainer to treat a foot problem, then immediately broke Nadal’s serve for 5-5 in the third. It took a tie-break for that set with Nadal romping home 6-1 in the fourth.
The Majorcan meets the man from Dunblane in what will be a defining match for Andy Murray tomorrow.
Fred Perry’s win in 1936 was again mentioned after Murray’s four-set win over Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (6-7, 7-6, 6-2, 6-2).
After struggling at the start with Tsonga’s big game, Murray finally wrestled the second set on a tight tie-break.
That proved to be the catalyst for the Scot to step up and Tsonga to fall away, the fourth seed then charging through the third and fourth sets.
Murray said: “He was going for huge shots off each side, really going for everything at the beginning. I managed to get the tiebreak in the second [set] and it went better after that.”
Wimbledon details
MEN'S SINGLES quarter-finals:(4) Andy Murray (Brit) bt (10) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 6-2, (2) Rafael Nadal (Spa) bt (6) Robin Soderling (Swe) 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-1, (12) Tomas Berdych (Cze) bt (1) Roger Federer (Swi) 6-4 3-6 6-1 6-4, (3) Novak Djokovic (Ser) bt Yen-Hsun Lu (Tpe) 6-3 6-2 6-2.
MEN'S DOUBLES quarter-finals:Jurgen Melzer (Aut) Philipp Petzschner (Ger) bt Rohan Bopanna (Ind) Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 6-2, (7) Wesley Moodie (Rsa) Dick Norman (Bel) bt (2) Bob Bryan (USA) Mike Bryan (USA) 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (3-7) 7-5.
WOMEN'S DOUBLES quarter-finals:Vania King (USA) Yaroslava Shvedova (Kaz) bt (6) Kveta Peschke (Cze) Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) 3-6 7-5 6-3, Elena Vesnina (Rus) Vera Zvonareva (Rus) bt (1) Serena Williams (USA) Venus Williams (USA) 3-6 6-3 6-4.
BOYS' DOUBLES Round one:Liam Broady (Brit) Tom Farquharson (Brit) bt Tobias Blomgren (Swe) John Morrissey (Irl) 1-6 6-2 6-3.
TODAY’S ORDER OF PLAY
Centre Court (from 1pm):(21) Vera Zvonareva (Rus) v Tsvetana Pironkova (Bul), (1) Serena Williams (USA) v Petra Kvitova (Cze)
