8 K. Anderson 2 6(5) 7 6 13
Top
seed Federer, who was aiming for a record-equalling ninth singles title, missed
a match point in the third set. It
proved pivotal as the South African recovered to win 2-6 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 6-4
13-11 in four hours and 13 minutes. The
2017 US Open finalist will meet Canada's Milos Raonic or American John Isner in
his first SW19 semi-final. Federer’s defeat was his first from two sets up
since 2011, when he was beaten by Novak Djokovic in the US Open semi-final.
Three months before that he had gone down in five sets to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at
Wimbledon.
Eight-time
champion Federer has already won more Wimbledon singles titles than any other
man, but was aiming to equal Martina Navratilova's all-time record. The Swiss, who turns 37 next month, had been
utterly dominant on his way to the last eight, swatting off Dusan Lajovic,
Lukas Lacko, Jan-Lennard Struff and Adrian Mannarino in a combined total of
little more than six hours on court. But
Anderson, playing in his first Wimbledon quarter-final, finally made the
20-time Grand Slam champion look human.
The
32-year-old became the first opponent to win a service game, and then a set,
against Federer at this year's Championships. All good things do come to an end
!! - of his many coaches, Severin Luthi played a key role in the Roger Federer's
career. The Swiss player hired Luthi back in 2008, and since then he often
praised the work they have done together. At the end of 2015, when Stefan
Edberg decided to leave the team, Federer asked Luthi to become his main and
one coach. The 41-year-old didn't accept
the request as he works as Swiss Davis Cup team captain and cannot guarantee a
365-day (or so) availability a year.
The other
successful coach is Ivan Ljubicic,
a Croatian former World No. 3. 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.
With regards
– S. Sampathkumar
11th
July 2018.
