Eyebrows were raised on the eve of Wimbledon when Roger Federer cautiously targeted a place in the second week. It seemed a curiously downbeat ambition from the eight-time champion, even if his grass-court preparations had been cut short by an early defeat to Felix Auger-Aliassime at the Halle Open. Then he had a lucky escape against Adrian Mannarino in the first round, the Frenchman twisting his knee with the momentum in his favour, and Federer’s circumspection began to make more sense.
Cameron Norrie said he was joking when he quipped that there had never been a better time to play Federer, and no doubt he was. Yet his words also hinted at a truth that seemed obvious to many. A month shy of his 40th birthday, and with limited matches under his belt after twice undergoing knee surgery last year, Federer was, if not exactly there for the taking, then certainly vulnerable. And who better to exploit that vulnerability than Norrie, the beaten finalist at Queen’s Club, whose record of 31 wins this year is among the best on the men’s tour.
There was partial truth in all of this. But partial truths don’t win tennis matches. Federer was not at his silken best against Norrie, but he nonetheless struck 48 winners and won nearly three-quarters of the points behind his first serve. There was a minor wobble at the end of the third set when the Swiss, having missed two break points that would have left him serving for the match, was broken to love amid a flurry of unforced errors. But he made amends in the fourth, breaking in the penultimate game before serving out the match with a roar of delight, and he is making incremental improvements with each passing round. With his 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win, Federer became the oldest man to reach the second week since Ken Rosewall in 1975; it is the 18th time the Swiss has advanced to the fourth round at Wimbledon, his 69th appearance in the last 16 at a slam, and his 1,250th match win as a professional. It is fair to say he’s doing OK.
“I thought I was extremely calm throughout the match,” said Federer. “Maybe that’s why I saved all the emotions for the very end. It meant a lot to me because I thought I played a really good match throughout, except maybe that one game where he breaks me. Sure he returned well, but it was a bit easy for him to get that break. But it was a difficult couple of minutes for me after missing the break points and then coming back and serving on the other side. Credit to him for pushing me. I know he’s had a really good season so far, he’s played a ton of matches and a lot of tournaments, so it’s a reference point for me if I can beat somebody of his level, who’s played well last week, who’s playing at home, who’s played a ton of matches. I know who I beat. It’s not just a guy who can play good on the day, he’s a good player – and that’s why I was extremely happy that I found ways to fight back in that fourth set.
“I definitely feel like I’ve gotten my rhythm at this point,” added Federer. “There was a bit of a breeze on the court as well, so sometimes I was still mistiming a little bit my shots, but for the most I was still trying to play on the front foot and play forward and when you do that, like I did against Gasquet, you’re always going to miss some. It’s important that I accept those and move on. I thought I did that really well today. I thought I had a really excellent attitude. That has been something that’s changed nicely throughout the last weeks and months. For maybe one of the first times I just felt very much at peace out there, really a sort of tranquility I guess to everything I was doing – where I wanted to serve, how I wanted to win my service games, how I took misses, how I took wrong choices. I just brushed them off. I was like, ‘We’re moving on, things are going well, I know it’s the big picture that matters.’ I was sitting on the change of ends and it was just empty thoughts, no bad, no positive, just sitting there and relaxing. This is how I want it to be. I think that for me is a very positive sign.”
Lorenzo Sonego, who Federer plays next, may see it differently. The Italian, seeded 23, has never previously made it past the first round at Wimbledon, but came through 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 against Australia’s James Duckworth. Also into week two is Daniil Medvedev, the second seed, who came back from two sets down for the first time in his career to defeat Marin Cilic, the finalist of four years ago, 6-7 (3-7), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. Medvedev, the second seed, will face Hubert Hurkacz in round four after the 14th-seeded Pole beat Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Hurkacz has yet to drop a set.
“It was an unbelievable match,” said Medvedev. “It was the first time I came back from two sets down to win. What is amazing is two times here in Wimbledon, I was two sets down and two times I came back and had a break in the fifth set and lost the match. So going to the toilet after the fourth set, I was like, I’m not going to let this one be another one of those. So I’m just really happy. At 5-0 in the fifth set, I have to be honest: I felt like, OK, 5-0, 40-0, it’s done. The match is done. Then it becomes 5-2 and I’m like, ‘Wow. Again?’ But Marin is an amazing player. For the first two sets he basically played better than me, destroyed me. So I’m really happy to come back and win the match.”
Felix Auger-Aliassime will face Alexander Zverev on Monday after Nick Kyrgios withdrew from the tournament due to an abdominal injury with the match tied at a set apiece. Zverev, the fourth seed, prevailed 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) against Taylor Fritz. Matteo Berrettini, the seventh seed, came through 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 against Alijaz Bedene of Slovenia to set up a fourth round meeting with Ilya Ivashka of Belarus, who eased past Australia’s Jordan Thompson by the same scoreline.