Federer-Djokovic Face-Off Set; Murray’s Battle Continues

Federer-Djokovic Face-Off Set; Murray’s Battle Continues

By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY
Published: July 4, 2012
WIMBLEDON, England — Roger Federer was still on Centre Court on Wednesday, giving one of his favorite opponents, Mikhail Youzhny, another extended look at the cruel beauty of his game, as British royalty and tennis royalty applauded from above.
A short stroll across the grounds, Novak Djokovic was still on No. 1 Court, chasing down the unorthodox offerings of Florian Mayer.

But with Federer and Djokovic in command, the mind was already leaping to Friday: to their semifinal, which will be their first meeting at Wimbledon and also their first meeting on grass.

“I don’t know how it changes the preparation, but I certainly think it’s intriguing, and when it’s intriguing, it’s a pleasure,” Federer said. “We know our matches on clay, outdoors and indoors, on hard courts. But we don’t know what it’s like to play on grass.”



Friday’s second men’s semifinal will generate less global buzz but even more local buzz as Andy Murray makes his latest well-documented assault on the Wimbledon singles final. The last British man to reach that stage was Bunny Austin in 1938, and the last British man to win it all, as Murray knows too well, was Fred Perry in 1936.

“You know subconsciously I’m probably extremely stressed out right now, but I try not to feel it,” Murray said.

Murray has been stopped in the Wimbledon semifinals the last three years, first by Andy Roddick, then twice by Rafael Nadal. Neither Roddick nor Nadal is still in the mix anymore this year. Instead, Murray, the fourth seed, will have to deal with the power and athleticism of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the No. 5 seed from France. Tsonga reached the semifinal for the second consecutive year by beating No. 27 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in four tense sets on Wednesday. Murray, in a grueling and stirring quarterfinal, defeated David Ferrer, the No. 7 seed from Spain, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (4).

Neither Tsonga nor Murray has been at the peak of his powers at Wimbledon this year, but Murray, on the strength of his returns and his Davis Cup-style crowd support, has a potential edge. He compared his situation to that of LeBron James trying to win his first N.B.A. title — a quest that ended happily for James last month with Miami.

“For me, as a basketball fan, it was nice to see,” Murray said. “I’ve been close a lot of times and not quite made it. You know, just have to keep putting myself in the position and hopefully it will click.”

It required plenty of hustle, improvisation and clutch serving for it to click against Ferrer, who served unsuccessfully for the second set and later had a set point on Murray’s serve in the tiebreaker. Murray saved it with a big first serve and forehand, then kept his emotions and dangerous opponent in check through rain and shine.

He closed out the match after a short rain delay at 5-5 in the final set in which he and Ferrer were on nearby tables getting treatment in the locker room.

“Of course Andy Murray, he has a chance to win Wimbledon,” Ferrer said. “He’s unbelievable player. He deserves to win one Grand Slam.”

Federer has already won a record 16, and Wednesday was his latest time-capsule performance against Youzhny. He is 14-0 against the Russian, and Youzhny was particularly secondary in this case as Federer swooped, sliced and ripped the suspense into shiny little pieces.

The 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 destruction required just 1 hour 32 minutes. Djokovic, the defending champion, required only 13 minutes more to solve the riddle of Mayer, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4.

“The matchup with Mikhail just works well for me,” Federer said. “His coach came to see me before the tournament and said that he hoped that Mikhail wouldn’t be in my quarter.”

Youzhny, 30, has handled tennis adversity in some unusual ways. In 2008 in Miami, he hit himself in the forehead three times with his racket in a match with Nicolas Almagro, drawing blood. At this year’s French Open, Youzhny scrawled the word “sorri” into the clay as he was losing to Ferrer.

Wimbledon’s groundskeepers thus had reason to feel concern as Federer’s winner count and Youzhny’s frustrations mounted. But Youzhny restricted himself to extended shouts, monologues in Russian and, during the first game of the third set, an appeal for help to the former Wimbledon champion Andre Agassi, who was sitting in the Royal Box next to his wife, Steffi Graf.

It would be a fine match to show 50 years from now to give an idea of what Federer played like at full strength, and the mild surprise was that he summoned such free-flowing excellence after sustaining back spasms in Monday’s fourth-round victory over Xavier Malisse.

Federer, who wore a black undershirt for support under his white tennis shirt, said he did limit himself slightly at times to protect his back, choosing not to chase every ball into the corners. But his serve speeds and serve locations appeared to be back to normal as he returned to the semifinals here for the first time since 2009.

“My back is holding up,” said Federer, who underwent extensive treatment between rounds. “I didn’t have to call the trainer. It was straightforward.”

Federer won his first Wimbledon in 2003 with back problems, and Pete Sampras won his last Wimbledon in 2000 with a shin injury that made it all but impossible for him to practice between matches the second week. Paul Annacone has coached them both and is still with Federer.

“Roger’s back just locked up the other day,” Annacone said. “But today, shoot, whatever he had, I hope he has it again on Friday.”

That said, Federer’s form has fluctuated here, and Youzhny’s game is clearly a near-perfect fit for his skill set.

“The thing that I’ve found with the great players I’ve been around, which is Pete and Roger, is the fact that no matter how good or how bad they play, it doesn’t change their approach the next day,” Annacone said. “I’ve seen Pete play, for Pete, average tennis and get to the semis and then in the semis and finals just be ridiculous. I don’t know how that happens, but I suspect it happens because they are great and secure in their abilities.”

Annacone added: “The great players know how good they are, and they don’t fluctuate with the drama or sensationalism or emotion of one match.”

Federer and Djokovic, both great players, have had no shortage of drama and emotion in their recent encounters. Federer, who is five years older than Djokovic, still leads their series, 14-12, but Djokovic has won six of their last seven matches. He beat Federer after saving two match points in the semifinals of both the 2010 and 2011 United States Opens. He also beat Federer convincingly in the semifinals of the French Open last month, but Federer went out of his way to emphasize that there was no off-court tension between them.

“I have no issues with him, and I hope you believe me,” he said.

The Wimbledon grass, with higher-bouncing conditions, is no longer as fast or distinct a surface as in other eras. That shift to the baseline, plus their recent record, makes Djokovic the favorite despite Federer’s six Wimbledon singles titles and despite all that Federer has in play. He can recapture the No. 1 ranking by winning Wimbledon.

“He definitely wants to prove to himself and to everybody else that he can win it once again,” Djokovic said.

Djokovic, still the defending champion, surely would not mind proving exactly the same point.