Roger Federer played his worst game of the tournament, and still found a way to advance in three sets to his 11th Wimbledon final. It seems that nothing, nor anyone, can stop the Swiss legend in his quest for his eighth Wimbledon trophy and 19th Grand Slam trophy.
At 36, Federer added another epic chapter to a wonderful comeback season by defeating Tomas Berdych 7-6, 7-6, 6-4 on Friday in the semifinals match played at the All-England Club.
Federer has not lost a set on the way to the final, and although he was not perfect in the semifinal and made more mistakes than usual, he was able to win crucial points against his Czech opponent.
On Sunday, he will face Croatian Marin Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion who advanced to his first Wimbledon final with a 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 and 7-5 win over American Sam Querrey.
Since winning his seventh Wimbledon crown in 2012, Federer has been close to claiming his eighth trophy but lost to Novak Djokovic in the 2014 and 2015 finals.
He will now have another chance, and could become the oldest man to win the Wimbledon title in the Open Era, which dates back to 1968.
After sidelining the circuit in the second half of last season to recover from knee surgery, the Swiss will play his second Grand Slam final in 2017. In January, he won his 18th Major trophy at the Australian Open.
After winning in Australia and Miami earlier this year Federer decided to skip this season’s clay tournaments, including, including the French Open, to instead rest and prepare to play on grass and hard courts. The strategy seems to be working so far.
Federer and Cilic met in the Wimbledon quarterfinals last year, and the Swiss had to overcome a two-set disadvantage to advance in five. Cilic however, has lost six of the seven previous matches against Federer, with the only victory coming at the 2014 US Open semifinals.
The Swiss has now reached 29 Grand Slam finals, that’s seven more than Rafael Nadal and eight more than Djokovic.
