Fedex rules, and is getting better
Playing at his silken best, Roger Federer broke millions of British hearts by cruising to his record-equalling seventh Wimbledon men’s singles title on Sunday at the expense of Scotsman Andy Murray.
Such was the level of excitement across the United Kingdom over the prospect of the first British winner since Fred Perry in 1936 that Prime Minister David Cameron — who attended the match as an invitee in the royal box — decreed that the Scottish national flag, the Saltire, would flutter alongside the Union Jack atop 10 Downing Street for the day. The who’s who of the UK — other than the Queen — duly made their way to the south London suburb that houses the historic All England Club to cheer on their man, but to no avail. Rarely en route to his earlier 16 Grand Slam titles has the Swiss maestro looked in such superb touch, such devastating form. As he ran over opponent after opponent — including the defending champion and world number one Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals — it became increasingly clear that halting the Federer charge would take some doing. On Sunday, the 25-year-old from Dunblane gave it everything he had, but he just did not have the weapons to mount a real challenge before the sublime skills and aggressive determination of his
opponent.
For a while there was speculation whether Federer could return to his dominant form of old, his last Grand Slam title having come back in 2010, also at Andy Murray’s expense at the Australian Open. Rafael Nadal and then Djokovic had between then swept the majors, even though it was agreed that Federer still had the game to extend the top two. On Sunday, though, he showed just why he is reckoned as being the greatest ever to wield a tennis racquet, playing the tennis that had put him in eight Wimbledon finals and 24 Grand Slam title matches in all. At an almost fatherly 31, an age most other male tennis players start to talk of retirement, Federer is getting still better and says he is playing the best tennis of his life. This must come as bad news for his opponents. When a player dominates a sport for close to a decade before seemingly handing over the mantle, she or he is then expected to do the decent thing and walk off into the sunset. Federer though has never been one to follow conventional wisdom, and there is no reason — especially after Sunday’s magnificent display — to believe he will continue to do anything else. For starters, there is the men’s singles gold medal for the 2012 London Olympic Games that’s just waiting to be won.
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