By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, July 4, 2018

 

Roger Federer reeled off eight straight shutout holds dismissing Lukas Lacko, 6-4, 6-4, 6-1, then revealed the secret to grass success.

Photo credit: Rob Newell/CameraSport

Looks can be deceiving even when you're watching a Grand Slam champion in full flight.

Roger Federer wears a Rolex, but plays with the efficiency of a man operating on an internal stopwatch.

Federer rolled through the Wimbledon field without surrendering a set last year and barely permitted points on serve today.

Watch: Roger Rocks It

A ruthless Federer streaked through service games quicker than changeovers dismissing Lukas Lacko, 6-4, 6-4, 6-1, to extend his Wimbledon consecutive set win streak to 26.

Contesting his record 20th consecutive Wimbledon, Federer raised his grass-court record to 174-25, equalling Jimmy Connors' men's mark for most grass-court wins in the Open Era.

Continuing his quest for a ninth Wimbledon title, Federer set the tone on serve reeling off 35 consecutive straight service points—eight straight shutout holds—before a bemused Lacko finally won a point on the Swiss' serve eliciting applause from the crowd with a backhand down the line.

This was first-strike tennis with last-word authority.

Sweeping the Slovak off the court with the slider serve, Federer served 71 percent, snapped 16 aces, won 40 of 43 first-serve points and permitted just nine points on serve in a 90-minute dissection.



The top seed's first delivery rarely exceeds 130 mph, but his ability to snap a variety of shifting speeds and spins into every corner of the box makes his serve extremely dangerous on grass.

Generating tremendous racquet-head speed from a traditional full rhythmic back swing, Federer said strong serving starts in the mind.

"I think important is when you want to serve well is your point-for-point mentality, saying maybe the first point is as important as a break-point, so the concentration is the same," Federer said.

"Trying to remember all the things you've done throughout the entire match, what has worked, what hasn't worked."

Efficiency on serve imposed oppressive impact on his opponent. A shell-shocked Lacko looked helpless to slow Federer's express route through service games which put even more pressure on the world No. 73's own serve.

"I don't need that much time, especially after a short previous rally to go through all of that," Federer said. "Just reassess everything very quickly. I think I can do that very good. Then it's more than just serving.

"It's also first-strike tennis, serve and first shot, serve and taking the right decisions as you go along, in the rallies as well. As the match went on, I was able to do that better and better. I guess you're referring to it. That's how it felt anyway. I don't know the statistics. Second and third set, that worked out very well. I think I took the right decisions, as well, from that first set."

The young Federer grew up watching Boris Becker dive across the Centre Court lawns in his epic battles against Stefan Edberg.

In contrast to Becker's dives, Federer dances across the grass rhythmically, changes direction quickly, straddles the baseline and strikes on balance with his head as still as the Fred Perry statue.

Movement and balance are assets Federer cites for his grass-court success; his skill mischieviously mixing spins and seldom giving opponents the same spin or height on successive shots can be disorientating. 

"I think I have good balance," Federer said. "I rarely slip. I rarely fall down or lose my balance in general. On grass it's the same. For me, if I'm playing on grass or not, it doesn't make that much of a difference. It comes natural. When it's natural, you don't think about it. It just happens. Yeah, I think I must say balance."

The 20-time Grand Slam champion will try to sustain his roll against explosive German Jan-Lennard Struff, who fought off a match point and withstood 61 aces from Ivo Karlovic in a 6-7 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4), 13-11, victory with Federer watching the final games of the three hour, 55-minute shootout on the ESPN set while conducting a post-match interview.

Aiming for his 99th career title, Federer has won both prior meetings with Struff sweeping all five sets they've played, including a straight-sets win at the Australian Open in January though two of those sets have been decided in tie breaks.

For Federer, the key to longevity is simple: commit to fitness, keep improving and have fun competing.

"I think physically to stay, you know, up there. Especially now the last five years, I think that's been the number one key," Federer said. "Keep on improving, with my coaches, fitness coach, trying to find new ways to keep practice, the matches entertaining. So, yeah, I mean, it's been good. I've never fell out of love with the sport. I think that's been helpful, too. Kept the tour fun."