By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday July 10, 2019
Roger Federer continued his decades-long assault on Wimbledon’s record books by becoming tennis’ first Grand Slam century man.
The Swiss edged Kei Nishikori in a tense four-set battle on Wednesday to win his 100th Wimbledon contest and become the first man in tennis history to win 100 matches at the same major.
“It's been a lot of years I've been coming here,” Federer said after the 4-6 6-1 6-4 6-4 victory, allowing himself to briefly reminisce. “That's given me the opportunity to win a lot naturally.”
If the milestone meant something to the eight-time Wimbledon champion, that something was outweighed by another lurking distraction. Federer was quick to downplay his latest crowning achievement as he switched his focus to a more pressing matter: his impending semi-final with Rafael Nadal.
Federer admitted the milestone had slipped his mind moments after he finished off Nishikori on Centre Court, saying he didn’t remember until a fan reminded him while he signed autographs for fans.
“I forgot,” he said. What he hasn’t forgotten is the difficulty of facing Nadal, a player that dispatched him with relative ease in blustery conditions a month ago in the Roland Garros semis.
Nadal eased past Sam Querrey 7-5 6-2 6-2 on No.1 Court on Wednesday, and looked quite menacing in the process.
“It's going to be tough, you know,” Federer said of the approaching clash, which will be their fortieth overall and the pair’s fourth at Wimbledon. “Rafa really can hurt anybody on any surface. I mean, he's that good. He's not just a clay court specialist, we know.”
Nadal represents the ultimate challenge for Federer undoubtedly, but Nishikori was very much a thorn in the side to the king of grass on Wednesday. The Japanese No.1 came out with a clear game plan to attack Federer as early and as often as he could. He was at the net more than Federer during the contest, and when he didn’t get inside the service line he looked to strike the Swiss with pace and angle from the baseline.
It was a strategy that paid dividends early, particularly on return, as Nishikori broke to 15 in the first game of the match and never let the lead slip.
“Kei is a great returner,” Federer said. “When he finds his rhythm, he's clear, he knows what he wants to do, he usually comes in with a plan into a match, you know. He's always willing to be aggressive. He can be very dangerous. If you serve the wrong spots at the wrong time, he's able to connect, it's tough.”
Federer never panicked and kept his wits about him as he ramped up his ground game and raced out to a lead early in the second set. From that point on he was able to create pressure in Nishikori’s service games with increasing regularity. He broke twice and ran away with the second set, and through four games of the third, Nishikori had played 20 points on serve while Federer played ten.
As the weight of the struggle wore on Nishikori, Federer kept probing and eventually cracked the code on the 14th point of the seventh game as he ripped a forehand winner into the open court to break.
Nishikori had one chance to break back with Federer serving for the set at 5-4 30-40 but he rifled a backhand return long and immediately lamented the decision to go for too much too soon.
He squatted, clenched his racquet and rolled his eyes as if he knew he wouldn’t get many more opportunities.
That prophetic grimace would prove correct, as Federer closed the set a few points later to take a comfortable two sets to one lead.
Federer’s high level of play forced Nishikori to chase the game constantly in the fourth set. Nishikori saved a break point in the first game of the fourth, survived two deuces in the third game, saved another break point in the fifth game, but in the end he couldn’t hang on against all that mounting pressure from a now zoning Federer.
Nishikori was broken in the ninth game and Federer held in the next game at love, sealing the victory with an ace to reach his record 13th Wimbledon semi-final.
It was a stellar effort from Federer, who finished with 55 winners and 32 unforced errors to go with 25 of 31 points won at net. He weathered an early storm from Nishikori and eventually took over with immaculate spot serving and lethal first-strike combos.
Federer faced just one break point in the final three sets and won 17 of 25 second-serve points (compared to just 4 of 11 in the opener).
“I feel good on the court,” he said. “Even if I'm down a set or down a break, no hurry there. I stay calm. I feel like I have the 1-2 punch sort of under control. I'm serving good. I'm going in phases in returning.”
Feeling good is one thing. Feeling good enough to defeat Nadal—no matter the surface—is entirely another.
“I don't think I really need to tell you what his strengths and weaknesses are,” Federer said of the rival that now owns a 24-15 lifetime record against him. “[He has] improved so much over the years on this surface."
Federer, making his 21st main draw appearance at Wimbledon, reflected briefly on the staying power that he and Nadal have achieved in the sport.
“It's impressive to see how sort of healthy he's stayed,” he said of Nadal, adding: “A lot of them [were] saying, ‘Oh, it's the end,’ by 2008. Similar to me in '09. We're still here. So it's nice to play each other again."
Eleven years after their epic final of 2008, Federer and Nadal will write another chapter of the rivalry that many feel is the greatest in history. Nice his one way to describe it--millions of tennis fans will likely do it more justice between now and Friday.