LONDON — The elder in the old school military uniform with all the medals, the housewife from Sussex in a purple frock, the attentive schoolboy with his askew blue tie and thousands of knowing Englishmen in sun hats were aghast.
True, all things must pass. It’s inevitable.
But this is Roger Federer, the magic man, the best performer our game has ever seen, who had done everything on these lawns: his shock victory as a little known kid over the once domineering Pete Sampras in 2001, his six titles and appearances in the last seven straight finals.
But more than appearances have changed in the land of Federer. His speed is less dazzling, there’s less crackle on his groundies, his confidence wavers and wobbles. His flowing Baryshnikov-like grace is rarely seen. Do not write off this tennis genius. But his is no longer the sublime wonder who captured our imagination and struck fear into any soul (not named Rafa Nadal) who faced him.
Yes, Federer had won two of the last Slams – the Australian and last year’s Wimby. The Good Ship Federer is hardly sinking. But after the 6-foot-5 Czech Tomas Berdych scored a convincing, not that close, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 over Roger, the Cathederal of tennis was stunned. It was as if a sacrilegious non-believer had violated the sanctuary by hoisting a banner claiming: God is Dead.
It was shocking that an off the boil Federer, even on his home court, no longer seemed to have a swagger, to play with conviction, to punish with sublime shots and supreme confidence.
True, he still seems eager. He says he can’t wait for next year’s Roland Garros and Wimbledon. But that is light years away. Roger is still a force, but the days of a domineering Federer seem to be in the rear view mirror. The Fed Express is now a local, no?
In a year in which Roger already had suffered an astounding (for him) eight losses, he was defeated by a player outside the top ten for the second time. He’ll soon be No. 3 in the world – oh-my-god.
Questions abound.
He is a week short of Sampras’ record of most weeks at No. 1. Will he attain it? He has six Wimby titles, one short of Pete. Will he be able to win here again? Is the 28-year old savant just too old. Is a tall, young, hungry and increasingly fearless field rising to Fed’s level?
Does Raj still intimate?
Can an icon/international celeb who just signed a huge contract with Mercedes and who has accomplished virtually everything in this sport and says he’s playing for fun, still have that drive, that fire in the belly intensity to bring it at crunch time? And, may we mention, what is it like to be a world-class athlete while raising two twin babies?
For sure Berdych didn’t care. He just wanted to again reach a Slam semi, like he did in Paris, to become the first Czech to reach the semis since Ivan Lendl in ’90 and the first Czech to win here since Jan Kodes in ’73, the year of a player strike.
The man who beat Fed in the ’04 Athens Olympics and survived a match-point to beat him in Miami in April, was at age 24, beginning to live up to the high expectation tennis wonks put on his shoulders. Never viewed as the toughest mentally on the tour, Berdych only had a modest 18-47 record against top ten players, still he managed to plough his way through one unseeded player after another to reach the quarters.
Once there he wasted little time break Fed as he used his deep groundies, particularly his inside out forehand to the corners, and a devastating first serve to collect the first set 6-4.
But Roger evened the match at a set all and according to Radio Wimbledon had now “gone from the country lanes to the motorway.”
Not really. Berdych soon broke twice to sprint to a 6-1 win in the third set. Incredibly, Fed failed to convert any of four break points in the seventh game of the fourth set as Berdych used power and surprising touch ‘n guts to beat Fed every which way until he lasered yet another fierce forehand to secure him a stunning 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 win.
Last year, when he exited Centre Court, Federer displayed a fancy gold embroidered “16” to remind the world of his record number of Slams.
This year — sad and sensing his loss — he exited Centre Court to soon offer an even more disconcerting effort when, in an inexplicable press conference, he immediately drew attention to back and leg injuries he had not talked about since play started at Wimbledon. He said he was stiff and “it’s not just not nice when it [the pain] doesn’t go away and you can’t play freely…When you can’t play freely, that’s the kind of performance you get. That’s what I was missing today.”
He added, “I just felt like I got the unlucky bounce once in a while…But I definitely gave away this match, I feel.”
Reporters felt Federer had given us little grace. Analysts feel on court the dominating grace of his glory days seemed to be sinking to some unknown horizon. With some melancholy, fans wondered, are we seeing a steep decline in what once was a truly glorious and astounding reign when the man from the land of mountains climbed virtually every tennis peak with panache, style and generosity of spirit.
