Can
you identify this player ! ~ I could not !!
Milos Raonic has progressed to the Wimbledon semi-finals for the second
time in his career with a 6-4, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 win over Sam Querrey. The Canadian
was near flawless for much of the two hour, 31 minute victory, with his
dominance especially clear in the first two sets. With his trademark serve
backed by some crisp volleys, Raonic lost only three points on serve in the
first set. Yet, tomorrow, he may not garner
most attention !
I told my son that it drowns to look a Champion losing and they find it difficult as
they lose ~ hour later, my son reverted back –
‘Champions do not give up, hate to lose and would make it difficult to defeat’. My memory runs back to the days of first Sunday in July 1987,
which left me feeling desolate and crying. A Winner in Tennis is a person with good skills, exceptional training, supreme
match fitness, great serve, stamina, passion to win, steely resolve and icy
resilence. If you think that the qualities are sure to make
a winner – on that day my immensely talented favorite lost the finals to Pat
Cash – he did everything in gunning for the title and despite reaching the
Semis in 1988, 1989 and 1990, he never again reached the final. He first attained the World No. 1 ranking on
February 28, 1983 and bolstered his claim to the top spot when he defeated John
McEnroe in the 1984 French Open final.
For much of the next five years, Lendl was the top ranked player until
August 1990 !!!! ..
Ivan Lendl was on my mind – meantime an engrossing
match was on.
Twelve months on
and the 34-year-old played only six events in 2016 heading to the All England
Club, and his 16-6 win-loss record has
raised doubts about his ability to last five sets in a season beset with injury
and illness. As Press at every chance tend to ask MS Dhoni on his retirement
plans, he too is being written-off now-a-days. For much of his career, Roger Federer
had been blessed with a body that seemed bullet-proof against the aches, pains
and injuries suffered by most top athletes. But one false move by the man
usually known for his gliding footwork while running a bath for his
six-year-old twin daughters sparked a chain of events that has left Federer in
a situation that is completely alien to him, causing his season to fall into an
abyss.
The Swiss ace has
been laid low with a viral illness, while knee surgery threw a curve ball into
the season also dogged by the back problem. His injury-enforced withdrawal from
the French Open ended his streak of 65 successive major appearances stretching
back to 1999. He has suffered semi-final losses on grass at Stuttgart and
Halle, the last of which against Alexander Zverev was his first against a
teenager in 10 years.
The 34-year-old has
been runner-up to Djokovic for the last two years and is attempting to become
the oldest Wimbledon champion in modern times. He and his fans too, have been
feeling the pressure as he came up for Wimbledon, having failed to win a major
title since 2012. It is not statistics
alone, age, and form too made all say that he is nowhere near his best !! is
that so !!!
Australian
Newspaper wrote - If Roger Federer beats Marin Cilic on Wednesday night, I
think he wins Wimbledon, getting his 18th major and his first since 2012. But I
don’t think Federer beats Cilic. Let’s say Federer does get the “W” though. Back
in 2014, he met up with his potential SF opponent, Raonic, in the same round
and it was billed as a mega-matchup between young and old. Federer won in
straights. That was with Djokovic lurking in the final, however. This time,
will the pressure get to Federer as he embarks on his most winnable run at a
major since blowing that US Open chance? What about Murray? It’s one of the
more under-celebrated streaks in the sport: Murray hasn’t defeated Federer in
his last five tries and has lost 10-straight sets against him.
Today evening at
Wimbledon, 3 times Roger Federer found
himself match point down in the fourth set; three times he found the right
answers just when he most needed them. It’s been the story of his career, and
it earns the Swiss the 11th Wimbledon semi-final appearance of his career.
How much it’s taken out of him physically remains to be seen; plenty, his
semi-final opponent Milos Raonic will be hoping. But that’s a question for
Friday. But toda, Marin Cilic, who played some brilliant tennis
and, at two sets to the good, looked set fair for his first appearance in a
Wimbledon semi-final. He couldn’t get over the line – Federer wouldn’t let him
– and defeat at this stage for a third successive year will make the result
especially hard to bear for the Croatian.
Roger Federer has
known some breathtaking triumphs in his time, but at Wimbledon 2016 he came
through one of the most astonishing quarter-finals the Centre Court has ever
witnessed. The 17-time Grand Slam champion was two sets down to Marin Cilic,
with the Croat deploying his first serve to devastating effect and stifling
Federer’s invention to boot. A comeback seemed impossible – yet the Swiss saved
three match points to win 6-7(4), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(9), 6-3 in three hours and 17
minutes to reach his 11th Wimbledon semi-final.
The man
at the start is Ivan Ljubicic, a
Croatian former World No. 3 presently the coach of Federer. He played the Swiss 16 times in his 14-year
career, before retiring in 2012. Ljubicic won just three times. The two also
spent many hours practicing together when they were both competing. Federer had praised Ljubicic in the past,
calling him a “natural leader,” and “very bright.” Ljubicic is no stranger to
top-level coaching, he previously worked with Canada’s Milos Raonic. The
highlight during his time with Raonic was a semifinals appearance at Wimbledon
in 2014 before he lost to Federer. Raonic talked of Ljubicic’s “tremendous
amount of support, knowledge and understanding,” when the two split in November
2015.
At 34, Roger
Federer becomes the oldest player to
reach the last four at Wimbledon since
1974, and will face Milos Raonic for a place in Sunday’s final. Federer reached the semi-final after a 6-7;
4-6; 6-3;7-6; 6-3 win over Cilic and will face Milos Raonic who defeated Sam
Querrey 6-4 7-5 5-7 6-4 in the other quarter-finals.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
6th July
2016.@ 21.40 hrs.
Federer photo credit : Wimbledon.com; news : Wimbledon.com; Washington Post; SMH; BBC and Guardian
