Roger Federer as ruthless as he had to be – and as lovely to watch as ever – took only an hour and 41 minutes to win his eighth Wimbledon title, 14 years after his first, and left his wounded opponent, Marin Cilic, in a bedazzled heap on Centre Court.
“It’s magical,” Federer said courtside. “I can’t believe it yet. It’s too much. I kept on believing and dreaming and here I am today for my eighth title. I hope to be back to defend it next year.”
Those were sweet words for his millions of followers, who must secretly wonder when the fairytale will end.
It is the Swiss’s 19th slam title, his second of the year after beating Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final, and, there is no reason to say that the youngest 35-year-old in sport cannot go on to win the final major of the year, at Flushing Meadows in September, and finish 2017 where he has spent so much time, as No1 in the world.
It would be a Federer grand slam, of sorts, with an asterisk beside it for missing the French Open, where Nadal triumphed for the 10th time. The Spaniard did not drop a set in Paris. Federer did not drop a set on Church road. Those are statements of dominance on their preferred surfaces that are impossible to deny.
Cilic, a virtual one-legged bystander once his left foot gave up on him after the first set, said tearfully: “I’ve never given up in all my career. I gave my best, and that is all I could do I had an amazing journey here, played the best tennis of my life.”
Federer paid tribute to his stricken foe. “It is cruel some times but he fought well and he is a hero,” the Swiss said. “He should be really proud.”
Playing tennis every bit as good as when in his pomp, Federer might yet go on to match Nadal’s French Open La Decima at the All England Club. He said before the final he feels no urge to retire and with his peers Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic showing distinct signs of frailty, he will very much fancy his chances.
Alex, what happened with the site? This new design is awful (((
Sorry to hear that mick…Still working on it though. It is much much easier to add and change results.
Did old design went away for good? The navigation by year was convenient… But the main thing – I could just import the tournament results. This new design has results presented in much different way (((
When I was able to import results, I could run various consistency and validity checks. This is how I found all those issues…
yes it changed for good. The make of the old site suddenly died. We could rescue the database but it was a mess. But there is more possible then you may think at first sight. when you go to tournaments you can type in anything, combinations too. try ” laver 1960″ or just “1953”. Don’t judge too soon please, new things take time. Let me know what you want or miss and I will do my best the coming period to add/change inconvenient things.
OK, will do. It sounds strange that you didn’t have site engine backed up. As well as database itself… I’m keeping copies of my database both locally and in the cloud…
Mick, you have to read carefully. Ofcourse the database was backed. But as it was made by a non-tennis expert it was kind of a mess. Pity if you are not content or happy, this is a hobby for me and it takes lots of time and money. It’s all free for you to use.
Sorry, did not mean to offend you… You are not database person yourself?
no
There used to be an interface on the home page of old site with newly added tournaments. It also permitted to see tournaments by date of entry. Is this possibility lost now, or just hidden somewhere?
There used to be an interface on the home page of old site with newly added tournaments. It also permitted to see tournaments by date of entry. Is this possibility lost now, or just hidden somewhere?